Bump/A Year
And Manchester City's Jamie Pollock Turns 41. Scorer of one of the truly great own goals
Guardian - John Ashdown January 24 2012
Has a player ever been idolised by a club he has never played for?
"Jamie Pollock On a similar theme, QPR fans have Jamie Pollock to thank for keeping their club in the First Division in 1997-98. On the penultimate weekend of the season relegation-threatened Rangers met the equally in-the-mire Manchester City at Maine Road. With the scores at 1-1 Pollock produced not just any own-goal, but unquestionably one of the great own-goals of all-time to gift QPR the lead. City pulled it back to 2-2 but it was not enough – Rangers were safe and City went down. Legend has it that QPR fans then voted him the most influential person of the last 2,000 years in an online survey.
www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/jan/25/1SPORTING LIFE
Man City 2 QPR 2
By: Paul Walker, PA SportLast Updated: June 18 2012, 11:36 BST
Before the game, City's anguished players paraded a banner thanking their
long-suffering fans for their loyal support. And City's largest gate of the
season 32,040 were treated to an exhilarating contest, as both sides battled to
attain safety.
Joy Royle reinstated Georgi Kinkladze to the starting line-up, in the hope
that he could inspire the home side to their first win in four games. And it
took the little Georgian international only 40 seconds to raise a cheer from the
Maine Road faithful that must have been heard in Portsmouth and Stoke.
Fouled 30 yards out by Nigel Quashie, Kinkladze picked himself up dusted
himself down and curled an exquisite left-foot shot into the bottom of keeper
Lee Harper's goal. Maine Road erupted.
Two points behind Stoke before play, everyone knew this was the game City
needed to win in order to make the last-day trip to Britannia Stadium a little
easier on the nerves. And they could have been celebrating a second goal only
minutes later when giant striker Shaun Goater turned in the box and fired over.
That miss proved costly, as on eight minutes Rangers drew level.
Tony Vaughan guided the ball back to keeper Martyn Margetson under pressure
from Kevin Gallen, but the keeper needlessly handled and conceded a free-kick
close to goal.
Quick-thinking Gallen snatched the ball from Margetson and tapped it to
ex-City striker Mike Sheron who made no mistake from six yards out. Maine Road
fell silent.
It almost got worse when the tireless Quashie threaded a through ball past a
square City defence for winger Steve Slade, but the ex-Spurs man could only
screw his shot wide from the edge of the box.
However a minute later, on 22 minutes, Rangers took the lead in bizzarre
fashion. Jamie Pollock intercepted a hopeful ball from David Bardsley. When it
dropped, he agonisingly headed it past Margetson who was dashing off his line to
pick it up. The City skipper held his head in his hands.
Rangers could have extended their lead almost immediately. Good work by
Quashie and Sheron put Gallen in on the right and he cut in before firing a low
drive just past Margetson's left-hand post.
Kinkladze, who had drifted out of the game, brought the crowd to their feet
with a typically weaving run which ended with an exquisite reverse pass, but
Richard Edghill's cross was just too high for Goater.
City continued to press in a breathtaking half, and Lee Bradbury fired
straight at Harper. On the half-hour, Bradbury was again the culprit, screwing a
right-foot drive wide of the mark, after Pollock's cross had been deflected.
And City must have thought their luck was really out when they hit the bar
twice in a hectic three-minute spell. First Pollock almost made amends for his
earlier error, driving a 20-yard shot which bounced down and out with Harper
well beaten. Then Kevin Horlock also hit the bar, after the over-worked keeper
had done well to block Bradbury's shot.
At the other end Danny Maddix headed just over, and Gallen thought he should
have had a penalty after being brought down by Kit Symons.
Rangers replaced Mike Sheron with Matthew Rose at half-time, no doubt concious
of the fact that a point would almost certainly see them safe. But their lead
lasted only three minutes, as Goater chested down a Horlock cross before sliding
the ball to Bradbury, who made no mistake drilling the ball home from six
yards.
That goal gave City heart, and they pushed for the winner. Edghill had a shot
from the edge of the box saved at the second attempt by Harper, and on the hour
the same player drove a 20-yarder narrowly wide of the keeper's left-hand post.
Rangers' attacks were becoming more sporadic, but the lively Gallen kept
Symons and Vaughan busy with a couple of sprints through the middle. Both
managers made substitutions as limbs tired, but chances became few and far
between at both ends.
Paul Dickov, on for Kinkladze, made a great run on the right, and his low
cross almost found Goater lurking at the back post, but Harper intercepted
well.
The match ended with Rangers' Quashie being dismissed for violent conduct
after striking Dickov in an off-the-ball incident. So City go to Stoke next week
knowing only a win will guarantee them First Division football next season.
Teams
Man City: Margetson, Edghill, Horlock, Brannan (Russell 88),
Symons, Vaughan, Whitley, Pollock (Bishop 84), Goater,
Kinkladze (Dickov 73), Bradbury.
Booked: Kinkladze.
Goals: Kinkladze 1, Bradbury 48.
www.sportinglife.com/football/news/article/165/7823082/man-city-2-qpr-2
(45) 
