Justice for time-wasting? Bizarre goalkeeping hands Barnsley injury-time winner
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“I’ve never seen it in my time in football,” reckoned Wycombe Wanderers manager Matt Bloomfield of the bizarre injury time goal that condemned his side to a 1-0 defeat at Barnsley in League 1 on Tuesday night.
But Sam Cosgrove, who put the ball in the net for his first goal for Barnsley, detected some natural justice in the freak winner.
Barnsley’s 91st minute winner against Wycombe - I HAVE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS 🤯🤯
— The72 - We Love the #EFL (@_The72) November 28, 2023
pic.twitter.com/oS958I1SI4
The controversy was triggered by a drop ball in the Wycombe area. Keeper Max Stryjek dallied over picking it up, in the time-honoured fashion of an away keeper satisfied with a point. Towards him trundled Cosgrove, in an exasperated effort to make him pick it up. The striker wasn’t entirely judicious about applying his brakes on time and landed a small nudge on Stryjek, who collapsed a touch dramatically, spilling the ball in the process. Cosgrove tapped it in and the goal stood, with Wycombe’s Harry Boyes sent off for his protests.
“Best goal I've scored,” was the striker’s verdict in post-match interview with BBC Radio Sheffield.
"From half an hour in, they were being slow with the ball - borderline time-wasting. He has gone down from the corner when no one's touched. The ref has given him the ball back and he's waiting for me to come up to him. It's a little bit poor from that point of view.
"I've probably nudged into him, there's a little bit of contact but there's absolutely nowhere near enough to drop the ball and fall on the floor.
"Keepers, notoriously, get a lot more decisions going for them. I suppose they can be a bit more vulnerable when they're going up to get balls but in a scenario like that, there's absolutely no need for him to drop the ball and go down in that fashion. Fair play to the ref and kudos to him for seeing that it wasn't a foul."
“It’s the best goal I’ve scored!” 😂
— Football Heaven (@footballheaven) November 28, 2023
Sam Cosgrove’s take on ‘that’ goal for Barnsley against Wycombe tonight#BarnsleyFC | @BBCSheffield pic.twitter.com/gzIpGBlBN7
Needless to say, Wycombe gaffer Bloomfield didn’t see it like that.
“I’ve never seen it in my time in football, the circumstances around it.
Our players put so much into that performance. To lose in that manner is extremely disappointing.” “My take on it is we’ve seen it a multitude of times where strikers run into goalkeepers, it’s usually given as a foul. And it wasn’t tonight. So after all that effort and endeavour… To finish the game like that is really disappointing.”
