GOSS THE BOSS FOR LAST KOP
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Goss 35 FA Cup, March 28, 1994 Att at Anfield: 44, 339 BY THE last match in front of football’s most famous stand...
The Spion Kop had been built in 1906 to cope with Liverpool’s growing fan base after they won their second league championship.
Named in memory of the city’s soldiers who died on the Spion Kop hill during the Boer War in South Africa, it could hold up to 30,000, before that capacity was reduced.
The Taylor Report that followed the 1989 Hillsborough disaster demanded all-seater stadia, and the Kop would be demolished at the end of the 1993-94 season.
Every Red and every neutral fan around the world wanted to see a great goal in front of the Kop.
They got one – but it wasn’t quite what they had hoped for.
The Kop almost saw a crazy first-half own-goal in front of them.
Liverpool were careless in midfield and Efan Ekoku raced towards the right-hand edge of the penalty area.
His cross was intercepted by Steve Nichol and the Liverpool midfielder’s header crashed onto the underside of the bar and down onto the goal line.
Norwich’s appeals that the ball had crossed the line were waved away by officials – but there was no doubt about the strike that put the Canaries ahead in the 35th minute.
Ian Crook’s free-kick had only been cleared as far as Jeremy Goss, around 25 yards out.
“There was a wall of red shirts coming at me,” recalled midfielder Goss. “I didn’t have time to bring it down, control it and look for a pass.”
So, he let fly with a half-volley and watched the ball fly past keeper David James and into the top corner.
Liverpool fans chanted, “You’re supposed to let us win” and had it not been for the acrobatics of Canaries keeper Bryan Gunn, they may have done so.
The score remained 1-0 and Goss entered the history books as the last player to score in front of the Kop.