• Championship

Spoilsports! League deny Schmeichel goal

ESPN staff
March 26, 2014
Kasper Schmeichel's header look to have crossed the line, but Chris Wood was credited with bundling home Leicester's equaliser © PA Photos
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Leicester City have branded the Football League 'spoilsports' for failing to credit goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel with the club's late equaliser against Yeovil Town.

Leicester were trailing Yeovil 1-0 when Schmeichel came forward for a corner as the game entered stoppage time. The Dane headed the ball against the bar and the ball bounced in the goalmouth before being bundled into the back of the net by Chris Wood.

The game finished 1-1 and Wood was credited with the goal - but replays suggest that Schmeichel's header may have already crossed the line.

Both Wood and Schmeichel - son of Manchester United's treble-winning goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel - were mobbed by team-mates as they celebrated together, with most believing that the goalkeeper had emulated his father's dramatic late goals for United and Aston Villa during his playing days.

After Wood was awarded the goal, fans began tweeting #givethegoaltokasper as replays of Schmeichel's header appeared on Twitter and Vine.

But on Wednesday the Football League moved to settle the matter once and for all, officially awarding the goal to Wood.

The news will come as a disappointment to Schmeichel, who believed the video evidence supported his claim to the equaliser. "I hope they give it me because it's conclusive, the evidence - it's over the line," he told Sky Sports.

A Leicester City spokesman described the Football League as "spoilsports" after the announcement but accepted the League's decision.

"The ball did cross the line but the referee hadn't blown for it," he added.

Peter Schmeichel scored 13 goals during his career, most famously heading home Manchester United's equaliser from a corner in a Uefa Cup tie against Rotor Volgograd in 1995. His last goal came in Aston Villa's 3-2 win against Everton in 2001.

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