The odds of Luis Garcia watching Stevenage’s play-off clinching win on Saturday are slim – but he’d have had a laugh about their unbelievable 92nd-minute winner.
The former Liverpool striker’s most famous goal for the Reds – against Chelsea in the 2005 Champions League semi-final – has been immortalised as the ‘ghost goal’. Did it cross the line? That’s the question fans have asked for years.
Now Stevenage have a phantom strike of their own in League One. Their controversial late winner has divided opinion among fans and caused a Luton Town player to blast the ‘shocking’ decision that cost the Hatters a play-off spot.
Of course, there’s no goal line technology in League One so the referee and his officials had to make the tightest of on-field calls themselves.
Dan Sweeney was Stevenage’s Garcia, with multiple angles of the ‘goal’ not able to provide conclusive proof that it crossed the line.
The task was clear for the Stevenage players at kick-off – win to secure a place in the play-offs and a chance to gain promotion to the Championship.
Did Stevenage’s winner cross the line? Fans are calling it League One’s ‘ghost goal’
Sweeney’s controversial strike did just that, sending a sold out Stevenage FC Stadium into delirium.
As the ball appeared to cross the line, the home players appealed to the referee, with the goalkeeper making contact and sending it back out of the goal again. It was Harvey White’s corner headed on by Carl Piergianni before Sweeney made the crucial contact.
The dramatic winner meant heartbreak for Luton Town, managed by former Arsenal star Jack Wilshere.
They took care of business by beating Bolton away 3-2 but needed other results, including Stevenage’s to go their way.
After the dust settled, Luton’s Ali Al-Hamadi raged at the ‘shocking’ decision that denied his side a place in the play-offs in a post on X he has since deleted.
He wrote: ‘It’s done now and I try not to talk about referees because it’s a difficult job. But what a shocking decision.
‘You simply can not make that call if you’re not 100 per cent sure. Not when play-offs are on the line. Not when people’s livelihoods and futures are on the line.’
Plenty of fans online agreed that the ball was not fully over the line and no goal should have been awarded.
Luton player Ali Al-Hamadi wrote the above post on X before deleting it
One wrote: ‘About time goal line technology was introduced at all levels. So much money in the game and they still haven’t brought this in. Shocking.’
Another posted: ‘Yet more inept officials at an important game clearly the whole of the ball didn’t cross the line.’
A third simply said: ‘Ghost goal.’
