When you remember a player elegantly hitting the ball above an opponent’s head while carrying down the goal and then cushioning an inch of perfect finish beyond the goalkeeper, you are immediately transported back to Paul Gascoigne’s magical moment in 1996.
But just two years later, a goal was scored so breathtaking that it possibly obscured the England star’s strike against Scotland in the European Championships.
It was Jamie Pollock’s incredible (own) goal for Manchester City in a decisive relegation battle against Queens Park Rangers in 1998. To add some context, this was a completely different Man City side than the one that challenges the Premier League title and is welcomed to European Super League as today.
Citizens fought at the wrong end of the second division, close to unimaginably losing in the third tier of English football for the first time in its history.
Man City needed a positive result against QPR on Maine Road to have any chance of avoiding the fall. With the score that was delicate at 1-1, Pollock stepped up. The midfielder did his job in a fantastic way and tracked back to stop a dangerous attack when everything went out of hand.
Unpopular opinion, Jamie Pollock was better than Zidane … https://t.co/4Pizbr8ryl
– Ste F (@ Stevefoxy78) May 29, 2019
A defensive slip in front of Pollock forced him into action, but calm as you like, he cut the bouncing ball over the head of QPR striker Mike Sheron and swept up while jogging towards his own penalty area.
The midfielder’s dink into the sky began to crash against the ground, and such was the accuracy and skill, the ball was ready to land plumb on Pollock’s forehead. He looked at the goalkeeper, who stood in his line, and decided to round off this moment of genius himself.
Pollock allowed the ball to bounce off his head and towards goal and dampened his effort to where the goalkeeper’s hands had been placed. Only Martyn Margetson was no longer on his line.
The shot-stopper had discharged to meet the ball and was now helplessly stranded when Pollock’s nod swirled over him and into the back of the net. The ground was stunned. No one could really believe what they had just seen.
⏪ #OnThisDay 2️⃣0️⃣ years ago.
Take a bow, Jamie Pollock! ? #QPR pic.twitter.com/db6DhHyL3o
– QPR FC (@QPR) April 25, 2018
Pollock’s skill and goal were so emphatic and convincing that the comment for a second seemed to forget that the Man City player shot towards his own goal.
“Pollock comes over to cover … good skill by Pollock, good head – Pollock – OH, WHAT A OWN GOAL!”
All professionalism out the window, there. Unfortunately for Pillock – sorry, Pollock – and Man City, the goal saw QPR take a 2-1 lead, and even if the hosts held them back for the second time, the match ended in a draw.
The result meant that they needed a minor miracle to survive on the last day, and even if they won against Stoke City it was not enough and Man City were moved to the third division for the first time.
Upset | Stephen Munday / Getty Images
What does Pollock remember about the incident? Well, he lands the blame entirely on the shoulders of his DVD collection, and a subconscious love of gaffes and bloopers.
“It was fun because on Friday – and I’ve never done that before – someone had given me a Christmas video with my own goals and gaffes, and I said, ‘I’m not watching it,'” Pollock said in an interview. with The Guardian.
“But on Friday, for some reason, I put it on and my wife Linzie came in and said ‘I can not believe you’re watching it before the match”, but I was like’ no, I’m gonna be okay ‘and then did I actually one.
“Pollock must feel like a proper pillow.”
– the commentator
“I do not know if there was anything subconscious in my mind from watching the DVD but I will try to blame something, it was just crazy.”
Without that moment, however, we may not have today’s Man City. Perhaps survival would not have shocked the club to make the necessary changes, and they could still be an intermediate championship side in the shadow of their bitter rivals.
Instead, they learned from their mistakes, summarized and immortalized in hysterical form and transformed the club and became the force they are in today’s football. All the heartache and all the suffering led to the fame and fortune that now exists in the blue half of Manchester.
Remember Citizens, if you can not support them on their Jamie Pollocks, you do not deserve them on their Sergio Agueros.
