Iain Turner scores first goal for Preston!

A player scoring his first goal for his new club is not really front page headlines. But when that player is in fact a goalkeeper scoring from his own penalty area, its a different story..

Take a look at this video:

Turner collected the ball and immediately kicked it up field, expecting it to be picked up by another Preston player. However it was not picked up by anyone; the ball bounced straight over the on rushing Stuart Nelson in the County goal and trickled into the net.

And if his hands are as good as his goalscoring prowess, he'll become a Preston favourite!



They scored how many....?!

After Manchester United's 8-2 defeat of Arsenal yesterday, I think it is well worth a look back at some of the biggest winning margins in the history of the Premier League.

Manchester United 9-0 Ipswich Town 1995

Ipswich had avoided slumping into the 1st Division by the narrowest margin the previous season, while Manchester United were defending champions. The first meeting between the two teams that season had shockingly ended in a 3-2 win for the Tractor Boys at Portman Road. But the meeting on the 4th of March was to be a one sided affair.

Andy Cole scored five goals, a Premier League record since equalled, a brace from Mark Hughes and single goals from Paul Ince and Roy Keane secured the record Premier League win for Manchester United, and an unwanted record that remains with Ipswich Town, now plying their trade in the Championship.

Ipswich keeper Craig Forrest was tormented by United on another occasion; a 7-1 defeat dealt to his new club West Ham United 6 years later.

Tottenham 9-1 Wigan 2009

Most of the readers of this blog will remember this Wigan annihilation at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur. Jermaine Defoe bagged 5 goals in the game that saw Tottenham's biggest win in the top flight and the biggest since 1977's defeat of Bristol Rovers.

Goals from Peter Crouch, Aaron Lennon, David Bentley and Niko Kranjcar sealed the win.

Chelsea 8-0 Wigan 2010

Already Wigan had conceded 9 at Tottenham in the 2009/2010 season (above). But this time they were away at soon to be champions Chelsea who needed a win to stop the title making its way to Old Trafford for the fourth consecutive season.

The title decider, not for the first time, came down to the last game of the season with the challengers needing a victory at home. Nicolas Anelka opened the scoring on just 6 minutes, with goals from Frank Lampard and Salomon Kalou arguably sealing the win. Anelka scored again before Didier Drogba stole the show with a second half hatrick. Ashley Cole scored in the final seconds to make sure the title was definitely coming back to Stamford Bridge. 

It remains the biggest win in Chelsea's history.

Newcastle United 8-0 Sheffield Wednesday 1999

This was legendary manager Sir Bobby Robson's first game in charge of Newcastle United who were lying in 19th position in the Premier League after a poor start, a place where the Toon Army didn't want to remain for much longer.

They took on 20th place Sheffield Wednesday at St James' Park, in what was thought to produce a close game, obviously Newcastle hadn't read the script.

Aaron Hughes put the ball in Wednesday's net after just 11 minutes, and then it quickly became the Alan Shearer show, with the Magpies legend and all time Premier League leading goalscorer firing in a hatrick just before half time. Kieron Dyer added to Newcastle's lead before Gary Speed fired in the 6th. But Alan Shearer was far from finished, scoring his 4th and 5th goals in the last ten minutes.

Sheffield Wednesday were relegated to the First Division at the end of the season along with Wimbledon and Watford. They had a goal difference of unsurprisingly -32 the second worst behind rock bottom Watford with -42.

Nottingham Forest 1-8 Manchester United 1999

The biggest defeat for a home side in the countdown.

Rock bottom Nottingham Forest hosted Manchester United at the City Ground on 6 February 1999. They were 31 points behind United going into the match, soon to be 34 when the 90 minutes were up.

Two braces from strike duo Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole had put United into a 4-1 lead. Yorke was replaced on 72 minutes to make way for Ole Gunnar Solskjær who fired in four more goals coming on 80', 88', 90' and 2 minutes into second half injury time.

The game produced two Premier League Records:

Most goals by a substitute: 4 - Ole Gunnar Solskjær

Highest goals to shots on target ratio: 90% - 9 goals from 10 shots

Chelsea 7-0 Stoke 2010

Salomon Kalou bagged a hatrick in this 7-0 defeat of Stoke at Stamford Bridge, with the other goals coming from Frank Lampard (2), Sturridge and Malouda.

5 goals came after Stoke's first choice goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen was taken off with a dislocated elbow, which may have been a huge factor in the number of goals his team conceded.

"They were far the better team, we were lucky to get nil. We had our pants pulled down and our backsides slapped"

- Stoke manager Tony Pulis in post match interviews

Arsenal 7-0 Everton 2005

Arsenal scored a magnificent Seven against Everton in this May 2005 clash at the old Highbury Stadium. Goals came courtesy of Robin Van Persie, Robert Pires (2), Patrick Viera, Edu, Dennis Bergkamp and Mathieu Flamini.

The win was the biggest so far in the reign of boss Arsene Wenger, and was the biggest Premiership defeat dealt to the Toffees who had already qualified for Europe.

Blackburn Rovers 7-0 Nottingham Forest 1995

Alan Shearer helped himself to a hatrick in defending champions Blackburn's thrashing of Nottingham Forest in this November 1995 clash at Ewood Park. A Lars Bohinen brace and goals from Graeme Le Saux and Mike Newell gave Blackburn the win.

Middlesbrough 8-1 Manchester City 2008

Sven's men slumped to an 8-1 defeat at the hands of Boro on the last day of the season. City were reduced to ten men after Richard Dunne hauled down TuncayAlves blasted home, then Downing added his second of the game.

Alves scored again to make it 4-0 to Boro, before goals from Adam Johnson, Fabio Rochemback and Jeremie Aliadiere. Elano hit a consolation for the visitors before Alves completed his hatrick, and the rout.

It proved to be former England manager Sven Goran Eriksson's last game in charge at Manchester City. He is currently managing Leicester City.

Manchester United 7-0 Barnsley 1997

A hatrick from Andy Cole, a brace from Ryan Giggs and goals from Paul Scholes and Karel Poborsky gave Manchester United the emphatic win over Barnsley.

Unsurprisingly; Barnsley's first season in the Premier League ended in relegation to the First Division. They have never achieved promotion to the top flight since.

Arsenal 7-0 Middlesbrough 2006

Thierry Henry equalled Arsenal legend Cliff Bastin's league goalscoring record of 150 in sublime style; scoring a hatrick in this demolition of Boro.

Other goals came courtesy of Phillipe Senderos, Robert Pires, Gilberto Silva and Alexander Hleb.

The win saw the Gunners equal their biggest Premier League victory.

This is by no means a complete list of the biggest winning margins; but the countdown includes the biggest wins by 9, 8 and 7 goal margins.

If the scoring continues through this season as it has this weekend, we might have to add to the countdown pretty soon!

Manchester United 8-2 Arsenal

After the blue half of Manchester had secured a 5-1 victory over Tottenham at White Hart Lane, it seemed that they had at last secured the back page headlines in Mondays papers. But, yet again Manchester United were out to surpass the achievement of their city rivals.

The scoreline of 8-2 usually crops up FA Cup games, where big spenders are pitted against the non league minnows, or in the extra preliminary rounds of European club competition. But not on this occasion; it was in fact Manchester United taking on Arsenal at Old Trafford.

Many in the footballing world would say that Arsenal are not the strong team they once were after losing club captain Cesc Fabregas and playmaker Samir Nasri to Barcelona and Manchester City respectively. However, the players Arsenal have in their ranks are world beaters on their day. This demolition at the hands of the current champions was totally unexpected, even to the most optimistic Manchester United fan.

Ashley Young's first half curler and either one of Wayne Rooney's free kick goals could easily receive a nomination for Goal of Month or perhaps Goal of the Season. Although the England striker has got a lot of work to do if he is to better his amazing acrobatics in last years Manchester derby.

All in all, a great day for all those associated with the red half of Manchester. But for Arsenal especially, it is a nightmare weekend they would want to forget quickly. Not only did Wojciech Szczesny concede 8 goals between the sticks, Arsenal finished a third game this season with 10 men.

"Of course you feel humiliated when you concede eight goals. It was a terrible day, I feel terribly painful about it"

- Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger talking to the media at full time

As a neutral however, this was one of the most thrilling games you could watch; 10 goals, a  hatrick, a penalty save, a penalty converted and two free kicks David Beckham would have been proud of. The one group of people we must feel sorry for is those who opted to watch the Edinburgh derby between Hearts and Hibernian on another sports channel, a game of football is a game of football, but they missed out on an absolute corker!

If the rest of the season turns out as well as this, football fans are in for a treat!

Welcome

Welcome to Goalmouth Scramble, a place to discuss all the latest news in the footballing universe. Transfer news, great players, shocking kits, stunning goals and dodgy decisions.

You may notice the blog is very bare at the moment; I apologise for this as Goalmouth Scramble is currently just getting started here on Blogger and I haven't got used to all the features just yet!
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