January 2005, Old Trafford - Manchester United vs Tottenham Hotspur

In an incident that will forever rankle with Spurs fans as it could have been said to have cost them a UEFA Cup spot that season, Pedro Mendes hit a cracking instinctive lob from fully 55 yards out that beat United keeper Roy Carroll. The linesman and referee Mark Clattenburg may well have been the only two people at Old Trafford that day who failed to spot the fact that the ball crossed the line by at least half a yard and declined to award the goal, denying Spurs their first league win at Old Trafford since 1989.

22nd June 1986, Estadio Azteca, Mexico - England vs Argentina

In this Mexico ‘86 World Cup quarter-final between two old rivals, 6 minutes into the second half Diego Armando Maradona, probably the most awesome talent to ever to kick a football, ’scored’ a goal that no England fan who watched the match is ever likely to forget, when he challenged for a 50/50 ball with England keeper Peter Shilton and proceeded to knock the ball over Shilton and into the back of the net with his left fist. The referee and linesman missed it completely and the goal was outrageously allowed to stand.

Despite the fact that just 5 minutes later the Argentine genius followed it up with what is widely acknowledged as the finest goal in the history of the competition, Gary Lineker did peg one back for England on 81 minutes, and so The Right Result would have been a 1-1 draw. Still, given England’s fairly dismal record in extra-time and penalty shoot outs, it’s hardly nailed-on that we would have kicked on into the semis, although it would have been nice to have had a crack at it…