The wrong balls

As a Sunderland fan I found it quite amusing that we should beat Liverpool with such a controversial goal. It makes up for the times that we have lost because of the favouritism that referees show to bigger clubs.

However, credit must go to the Liverpool manager and fans that they did not harp on about the beach ball and indeed recognised that the beach ball had nothing to do with their not scoring during nearly one hundred minutes of football.

Now that the experts have answered the question raised about inanimate objects on the pitch - I'm back to the beach ball now, not the Liverpool display - there are a couple of other questions that have yet to be dealt with.

First of all, where did the referee find seven minutes of stoppage time in a second half with one yellow card and no deaths? Was this another case of a referee trying to atone for an earlier mistake, or was it just the usual gift to the bigger clubs when they haven't done their best?

Secondly, what on Earth was Glen Johnson doing? He did nothing about the beach ball, and he did even less about the shot, managing just a pathetic flick of the foot in defence of his goal. However, by far the worst part of his laziness - cowardice? - was the stance he adopted: both hands in front of his genitalia. Totally ignoring the two balls that lost Liverpool the points, he chose to cover his own. Instead of making himself big he curled up into a ball and gave Bent a free shot.

Now I don't care what happens to Liverpool, especially when they're playing Sunderland. But this guy wants to go to South Africa. Is he going to surrender a goal that easily at the World Cup? If that is the best we can do in that position, there is no chance of England's winning anything.