Wonder goal still gets ex-player stopped in street

Walsh said he was just elated to win the game

It was a rare occasion on which Match Of The Day would stray into the Second Division.

But on one Saturday in February 1975, the programme decided to cover Blackpool's fixture against Sunderland.

And in doing so, it found its Goal of The Season courtesy of the The Seasiders' Mickey Walsh, who remains to this day the only player to win the accolade for a Second Division goal.

"I get people asking me, 'Are you the guy?' as they play YouTube clips to me," says Walsh, now 70, says, on the 50th anniversary of the match that saw him enter a footballing pantheon that would go on to include the likes of Paul Gascoigne, Dennis Bergkamp, Ryan Giggs and Steven Gerrard.

Walsh's Goal Of The Season win remains the only one awarded to a goal in a Second Division match

The goal took everyone by surprise. A long ball played down the right flank found Walsh, who took it to the edge of the Mackems' box before turning on a six pence and cutting in along the edge of the 18-yard box.

Despite the Bloomfield Road pitch looking like it had been used as a tank battalion training ground, Walsh managed to keep the ball under control before blasting it past the Sunderland goalkeeper.

"Paul Hart hit a great ball which I took on the chest and set off running down the right wing," remembers Irishman Walsh.

"I always fancied myself in a one against one so I cut inside past the defenders and curled the ball with my left foot into the far left corner of the goal."

The strike was impressive enough both to prompt a pitch invasion by Blackpool fans, and a "Oh, what a goal!" from commentator Barry Davies.

'Best goal ever'

"It was a brilliant goal - just look at our faces on TV as we celebrate," says teammate Hart.

"Barry Davies said it was a long punt from me - rubbish these days it would be counted as an assist

"We were all delighted when Mickey got goal of the season but typical footballer banter soon kicked in."

Former Fleet Street sportswriter Tony Quested, who covered the game for the Blackpool Gazette describes it as the "best goal" he has ever seen.

"Even players in the National League are bending the ball now, but it wasn't like that in the 70s." he says.

"Walshy scored on a terrible pitch against a class goalkeeper when the team were under a lot of pressure."

Lifelong fan Paul Lupton has vivid memories of watching with his two younger brothers and his father as Walsh drove the ball home.

"The shot curled significantly more than the camera angle really showed, to be honest, and pinged into the net off the post past the diving Jim Montgomery.

"The crowd went absolutely mad!

"My dad leapt as high as Blackpool Tower and lost all his loose change."

Sportswriter Tony Quested said Walsh's goal was he best goal he ever saw in person

Another fan's celebration earned a school reprimand.

Christine Seddon, now a leading figure in the Blackpool Supporters Trust, was nearly 260 miles away at a girl's boarding school in Surrey.

"I had sneaked into the common room to watch Match Of The Day and got caught because I was cheering so loudly," says Christine, who was 12 at the time.

"I was banned from leaving the school grounds the next weekend but it was worth it just to see that goal."

Christine Seddon (left) watched the game at boarding school - and was punished for doing so

The match was not without its controversy.

Sunderland could have taken the lead but for a double save by goalkeeping legend John "Budgie" Burridge.

As Sunderland's Billy Hughes stepped up for a spot kick, a steward dressed in a long white coat and flat cap and standing behind the goal gesticulated wildly to distract him.

Hart says he and other players were unaware of the steward's antics, "but when I saw it on Match Of The Day I laughed my head off".

MOTD host Jimmy Hill took a dim view but, according to Quested, "Budgie was such a good keeper he would have stopped pretty much anything that day".

Loyal Seasiders fan Lupton remembers finding himself lining up against his hero Walsh at the Civil Service sports ground in Chiswick, London in 1990.

"Mickey played for Gerrard's Cross vets, and sure enough he slammed one in from 35 yards at a ripe old age.

"I even predicted that would happen before the match.

"It was a yet another 'Walshy scorcher'.

"He always had a surprise in him."