John Pantsil’s own goal gifted Liverpool a 1-0 victory at Anfield in the English Premier League on Wednesday night and moved the reds to the seventh position on the league table.
The Ghanaian international will rue the ill-luck in a game that was characterized by a gift-wrapped winner mixed with ditch defending and comic finishing.
The goal, seven minutes after the break, was fitting for the game as a whole, scrappy as it was. Fernando Torres’ edge-of-the-box strike ricocheted against a post off Brede Hangeland and spun back across goal.
Pantsil tried to clear but merely sent it arcing into the air and David Stockdale made a frantic grasp to smother. The Fulham keeper got his fingertips to it, but that was enough to stop Pantsil getting a proper connection and the full-back watched as his miscue bounced into his own net.
The fact that the points took Liverpool into seventh – their highest position of the campaign – speaks volumes about what has gone on around Anfield these past few months.
Yet Pantsil was not the only one to drop a clanger as the officials threatened to become the talking point once more. The Whites now turn their attentions to FA Cup action on Sunday when they take on Spurs at the Cottage.