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It was the moment that helped launch a young Manchester United winger into the stratosphere. Already 2-0 up at Selhurst Park on August 17, 1996, a 21-year-old David Beckham received possession well inside his own half and let fly.
The audacity of the shot, unleashed 57 yards from goal, caught the entire stadium by surprise, not least Wombles goalkeeper Neil Sullivan who haplessly attempted to prevent the ball’s flight before ending up crumpled inside his own net.
Now, 30 years on, Sullivan recalls that moment, and the massive hype that blew up afterwards.
‘You pick up a newspaper and it's all over the back pages’ Sullivan on the reaction following Beckham's iconic strike
“Yeah, I mean, at the time it was, it was just a normal game,” Sullivan, speaking exclusively to FourFourTwo ahead of the World Cup via betFIRST says. “We were 2-0 down going into the last couple of minutes of the game. He hit it and it kind of moved in the air quite a lot.
“I didn't quite change my feet around properly and, as soon as he hits it, you think, ‘That's going to be close’. When it went in, I was kind of hanging onto the net, kind of looking up and all the Man United fans were behind the goal. I was getting pelters from the stands.”
Sullivan’s initial reaction was disbelief mixed with a little bit of respect for the sheer temerity of Beckham’s attempt. But little did the goalkeeper know how iconic that moment was to become.
“I just kind of had a little smile and a chuckle to myself, and that was it, really,” he says. “Then you don't really think much of it.
“You wake up the next day – obviously no social media back then, no nothing. You pick up a newspaper and it's all over the back pages. You think, ‘Wow, that was, you know, that's that's quite special'. And yeah, that was it - you’re kind of inadvertently a part of Premier League history.”
Surprisingly enough, Sullivan isn’t even certain that was the best goal he conceded.
“I guess there's that one, and the Paolo Di Canio goal, which I was also in goal for,” says Sullivan of an iconic scissor kick scored by the West ham legend against Wimbledon in 2000. “So, yeah, it's nice to be remembered for something, I guess.”
