Читать книгу Unforgettable Soccer - Luciano Wernicke - Страница 28

Selhurst Park, London, January 4, 1998. Home team Wimbledon FC takes their corner kick during their match against Wrexham FC for the third round of the FA Cup, tied at 0-0 and already in additional time. Neil Ardley kicks, the ball flies, bounces off Marcus Gayle’s head, and ends up in the net. An astonishing win? For the referee, Steve Dunn, no. This referee with bad timing had blown his whistle a moment before, while the ball was in the air, to end the match. The London squad players and their coach, Joe Kinnear, scream at Dunn, eager to get him on the grill with potatoes that night. There was nothing to be done; the judge refused to be dinner and, above all, maintained his decision to close the match with the blank scoreboard—even though he knew he screwed up.

Racecourse Ground, Wrexham, Wales, January 13, 1998. Wrexham FC and Wimbledon FC are again face to face in the “replay” that must decide which of the two advances to the next round of the famous cup. Again Steve Dunn is officiating. The match is again tied, although 2-2. Again, Wimbledon is on the attack. Again, Neal Ardley launches a cross, and again Marcus Gayle heads it straight into the net. Again, there is controversy: One of the line judges raises his flag to mark the supposedly offside position of Gayle. Dunn breaks the “replay:” This time he validates the goal. According to the referee, the English striker—who would wear the jersey of Jamaica at the World Cup in France that same year—was well onside. Now it is the Welsh who want to murder Dunn. Even more so when, seconds from the end, he fails to grant a clear penalty to Alan Kimble, who had kicked down defender Mark McGregor from Wrexham FC inside the area. The final whistle goes, and Wimbledon moves through to another round. On the trip home, Dunn is calm. At the cost of an injustice, justice was done.