There were comical scenes as Glentoran’s backspin penalty deceives the keeper in UECL qualifying against Gzira United on Thursday night.
Warren Feeney’s Glentoran scored a penalty in the most unusual of ways in their Europa Conference League shootout with Maltese side Gzira United as 11 players scored in the first round of the shootout, only for Gzira to convert their 12th.
Stepping up for the second time Jay Donnelly had to score for the British club to stay in the game, but the goalkeeper David Cassar correctly guessed which way he was aiming for and produced a save.
But as the Gzira keeper ran from his net to celebrate the save, the ball hadn’t gone dead, instead spun so much that it bounced into the net.
The Maltese side however did have the last laugh, winning 14-13 after a marathon shootout to progress to the second qualifying round.
Nonetheless, the penalty kick went viral across Europe, take a look at it yourself…
Glentoran lost 13-14 on penalties to Maltese side Gzira United in their Conference League qualifier last night having scored on 90+13 to take it to extra time.
This happened at 11-12 in the shoot-out. An utterly bonkers game from start to finish.pic.twitter.com/nhNh2rgBLY
— HLTCO (@HLTCO) July 21, 2023
A crazy night all across Europe.
Have you seen the Penalty shootout drama involved Glentoran? The Glens went out 14-13 on pens to a Maltese side but not before they had scored this hilarious effort. pic.twitter.com/PSnvDn6fTG
— Between the Stripes (@betweenstripes) July 20, 2023
GLENTORAN
A.McCarey; L. McCullough, A. Wilson, R. Marshall, J. Singleton, R. Burns, F. Sule, N. McGinn (69 J. Donnelly), D. O’Conchubhair (97 L. Boyd), R. Donnelly (111 J. Jenkins), C. Uzokwe (79 R. Walsh).
GŻIRA UNITED
D. Cassar; Z. Scerri, J. Mendoza, T. Espindola, M. Dias, C. Chaba, L. Macula (89 R. Essaka), F. Romero, W. Teixeira, B. Borg, Ewertton.
Referee Sigurd Kringstad (Norway FA).
Yellow cards Cassar, R. Donnelly, J. Donnelly, Mendoza, Romero, Wilson.
Missed penalty Burns (Glentoran) 17.
Feeney said: “Very disappointed. I said to the players, ‘Look, I can take getting beat, but get beat in the right manner.’
“But the ruthless point of it is if you don’t take your chances over two games in any game, never mind European football, it’s going to come back and hurt you. And it did today.
“We were so comfortable, dominated the game, dominated possession. But I said to them, ‘don’t switch off if you’re not scoring goals.’
“You’ve got to keep a clean sheet. Didn’t track a runner. And then, as I said to you, missed too many chances over the two legs, which is the hard one to take.
“Also, the goal I’ve just asked the question, if the linesman hasn’t put his flag up, if there’s no VAR, I don’t know how the referee can wave the play back to centre circle. Then when their players run over the linesman, if he’s not in a position, the referee to give offside, he can. So that’s the question I’m waiting to hear. Or the answer I’m waiting to hear.
“Sorry, but I’m disappointed. Look, penalties is a lottery, but I can’t fault my players. I said to them, you play like that in the nitty gritty when it starts in two and a half weeks, I said that you’ll do well.
“What I mentioned, I have to give the fans the atmosphere tonight. You can see that. The way they clap the players off the pitch. That’s all I ask for is honesty. There’s going to be a few emotions. We’re hurt and being honest, we’re hurt, but we’ll pick ourselves up, we’ll go again. ”
EUROPA CONFERENCE LEAGUE
QUALIFYING FIRST ROUND RESULTS
Birkirkara 1-2 NK Maribor – (Agg 2-3)
Europa 2-3 Dukagjini – (Agg 3-5)
FC Santa Coloma 2-0 Penybont – (Agg 3-1)
Paide Linnameeskond 0-2 B36 Tórshavn – (Agg 0-2)
Rigas FS 4-1 Makedonija GP – (Agg 5-1)
Trans 0-3 Pyunik – (Agg 0-5)
FC Milsami Orhei 0-1 Panevezys – (Agg 2-3)
Honka 0-0 Tobol Kostanay – (Agg 1-2)
FCI Levadia 1-2 MSK Zilina – (Agg 2-4)
Dila Gori 2-0 DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda – (Agg 3-2)
Dinamo Batumi 1-2 Tirana – (Agg 2-3)
Dinamo Minsk 1-2 Zeljeznicar Sarajevo – (Agg 3-4)
Zimbru Chisinau 1-0 La Fiorita – (Agg 2-1)
Connah’s Quay Nomads 0-2 KA Akureyri – (Agg 0-4)
Egnatia 4-4 Ararat-Armenia – (Agg 5-5, Ararat-Armenia win 4-2 on penalties)
Gjilani 0-2 Progrès Niederkorn – (Agg 2-4)
Neman Grodno 1-1 Vaduz – (Agg 3-2)
Víkingur Gøta 1-1 Inter Club D’Escaldes – (Agg 2-3)
Arsenal Tivat 1-6 Alashkert – (Agg 2-7)
Glentoran 1-1 Gzira United – (Agg 3-3, Gzira United win 14-13 on penalties)
Cosmos 1-1 Sutjeska Niksic – (Agg 1-2)
Derry City 1-0 HB Tórshavn – (Agg 1-0)
Dundalk 3-1 Magpies – (Agg 3-1)
Haverfordwest County 1-1 Shkendija – (Agg 1-1, Haverfordwest County win 3-2 on penalties)
St Patrick’s Athletic 2-3 F91 Dudelange – (Agg 3-5)
Vikingur Reykjavík 1-0 Riga FC – (Agg 1-2)
Vllaznia Shkodër 1-0 Linfield – (Agg 2-3)
Crusaders 1-0 Haka (Agg 3-2)
FK Sarajevo 1-1 Torpedo Kutaisi – (Agg 3-3, Torpedo Kutaisi win 4-2 on penalties)
Shkupi 0-0 Hegelmann Litauen – (Agg 5-0)
Fans reacted over the comical scenes as Glentoran’s backspin penalty deceives the keeper in the UECL qualifying…
@dan7heman: Correct decision. Ball wasn’t dead. Forward momentum doesn’t count. If it hits the posts and goes in off keeper it counts too.
@dmalloy1985: I went. Over three hours until it finished. Two glens goals disallowed. Gzira bench sendings off. The penalty shootout. Weirdest game I’ve ever been too
@AllanBrough: God, I love football.
@djchrisvibes: The fact that the keeper runs past it celebrating when he could have stopped it makes it all the sweeter.
@LoriWatton: This commentary is absolute gold 😂
@steds101: Keepers off Celebrating 🤣🤣
@MarvelousBirch: This is something else 😂😂😂😂
@reecestewart82: Still struggling to comprehend what I watched last night, from the highest of highs to lowest of lows so quickly and it would only be Glentoran, onto the league we go 🐓
@PMJ11433: Haha I love this
@Bazzinho9: The fact they lost after this makes it 100000x funnier hahaha
@DerekGordon67: What’s the keeper doing ffs 😂
@listentothewaff: IRISH LEAGUE BEHAVIOUR
@GrahamDixon01: Keepers had one here 😂😂
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