Ten Of The All-Time Worst Refereeing Decisions To Go Against Lincoln City

5: Garry Willard Broken Watch

At Selhurst Park on 4 October 1994, Sam Ellis’s fourth-tier Imps were within touching distance of knocking Premier League Crystal Palace out of the Coca-Cola Cup. David Johnson’s first-leg winner at Sincil Bank had given us a 1-0 advantage, and an inspired Andy Leaning, backed by a disciplined defensive display, had kept the second leg goalless through 90 minutes.

Gary Willard allowed play to drift into a fifth minute of stoppage time, an extraordinary extension in the eyes of the travelling support after a match in which City’s physio had been needed just once. Then came a second injustice: Bruce Dyer handled Nigel Martyn’s long ball before finding John Salako, whose cross was headed home by Dean Gordon. Palace’s own official timing put the goal at 94 minutes and 14 seconds.

You have to remember, this was in the days of injury time being just that – injury time. It wasn’t ‘added time’ as such; it wasn’t a case of 30 seconds for this and that. It was discretionary, and rarely did you see a game go beyond 91, maybe 92 minutes. 94? Madness.

That intervention took the tie into extra time, where Chris Armstrong and Dyer scored to give Palace a 3-0 win on the night and a 3-1 aggregate victory. For the 700 travelling Imps, a superb defensive effort had been undone by the combination of an inexplicably long wait for the whistle and an unpunished handball in the decisive move. Ellis’s verdict in his programme notes captured the mood: “what a sad end that was to a marvellous performance”.