Patton Takes Charge, Dominates Stronger Rival!
Former Glentoran goalkeeper Alan Patterson reflects on his famous winner for the Glens in their 2-1 League Cup win over Linfield in 1988-89.
There have been a number of famous goalkeeper goals down the years, but it would be hard to find one more significant than Alan Patterson's winner for Glentoran against Linfield in the 1988-89 League Cup final. At a rain-swept Oval, with the game finely poised at 1-1, the Glens keeper launched a huge clearance up field which bounced over opposite number George Dunlop and into the net. It was enough to secure the trophy for his team for the first time and create British football history as Patterson became the first goalkeeper to score a winner in a cup final.
With Glentoran and Linfield set to meet again in Sunday's BetMcLean Cup final, Patterson has been reminiscing on that famous goal, which thanks to the power of social media, has gone 'viral' nearly 40 years on. "It's nice to see it again. I remember it was close to the end of the game, minutes to go and my thoughts were to just get the ball to the other end of the pitch and really I thought Gary Macartney had got a touch on it and it went past Geordie (Dunlop), but when John Devine jumped all over me I realised it had gone straight in which was great at the time," he told BBC Sport NI's Thomas Kane.
"It took a while for it to sink in and you feel for George, that was my first reaction, I wouldn't like it to happen to me, the second reaction was the joy of winning the cup and especially against Linfield and to score the winner, it's one you live on for. "That's the strange thing, being a goalkeeper you want people to talk about your saves, but most of the time they talk about the goal, it's different. It was brilliant and it's still brilliant.
" All you need to know about BetMcLean Cup final 'Not universally popular' - Lawlor on VAR move 'Any cup final is special, against Linfield it's more special' There's plenty of intrigue around this first 'Big Two' final meeting in 16 years with VAR in use for the first time in the domestic game in Northern Ireland and a place in the end of season European play-offs up for grabs, with all the action live on BBC Two NI and BBC iPlayer. Glentoran have not won this trophy since 2010 and were narrowly beaten by Linfield the last time the two sides met in the league in February after a famous Boxing Day win at Windsor last year. The Glens sit second in the table, three points ahead of the Blues, but Patterson, who played over 500 times for the club across two spells, believes the old adage that anything can happen on cup final day.