Diego Maradona put Argentina on their way to victory over England in the quarter-finals of the 1986 World Cup with his controversial “Hand of God” goal. However, when FourFourTwo magazine asked players, managers and other football folk to nominate their greatest goal of all time, Maradona won, to coin a phrase, hands down.
The votes, however, were for his second goal in that match, which came after a mesmerising run from the halfway line. Substitutes not used: Davidson, Broomes.Barnsley (3-5-2): Watson; Morgan, Moses, Jones (Liddell, 89), Eaden; Bosancic, Redfearn, Bullock (Marcelle, 67; Sheridan, 83), Barnard; Hristov, Ward. Had Hristov’s finishing been better, they would have been back on terms long before their breakthrough in the 67th minute.”He is always capable of scoring goals,” said Wilson of his wayward Macedonian.

“His ratio isn’t what we want from him, but you’ve got to remember that he’s only 21, in a strange country and still adjusting.”I’m going to be very, very patient with him, because he can be a big asset to Barnsley for years to come.”Unfortunately, his goal also had a reviving effect on Blackburn, especially in conjunction with Gallacher’s winning return to action.Blackburn Rovers (4-4-2): Flowers (Fettis, 64); Kenna, Hendry, Henchoz, Wilcox; Ripley (Duff, 62), Sherwood, McKinlay, Flitcroft; Sutton, Dahlin (Gallacher, 72). Nobody followed him as he ran for the return and he was able to poke it past Dave Watson and into the net.Barnsley were generally the better side after that, regrouping impressively after the trauma of their sendings off and assorted pitch invasions at Oakwell at the weekend. “If it needs surgery now he will have to have it.”The change around in goal was emphasised when the first task of his replacement, Alan Fettis, was to pick the ball out his net. Georgi Hristov’s shot after he had run on to Nicky Eaden’s excellent through ball was so crisp and decisive – and in such stark contrast to his sloppy finishing before that.As Wilson pointed out, Hristov had a splendid opportunity even before Blackburn took their early lead, losing control with the goal at his mercy.So soon after the tribulations of their defeat by Liverpool on Saturday, Barnsley had cause within minutes to regret not getting away to a flying start.Martin Dahlin, in the starting line up ahead of Gallacher after the Scot had only recently resumed training after his groin injury, caught their defence flat-footed with a quick angled ball to Chris Sutton. It was doubtful whether Flowers would have done any better, however.

“There are still seven games to go and we didn’t look like a team that’s relegated.”It was not all good news for Blackburn, by any means. Apart from not playing particularly well for most of the match, they also lost their England goalkeeper, Tim Flowers, when he landed heavily on his shoulder after punching the ball away.It was the same shoulder that has troubled him for much of the season and Flowers will have a scan today to assess the damage “It doesn’t look very good,” said his manager, Roy Hodgson. KEVIN GALLACHER, back in action after a month of suspension and injury, took just 14 minutes to show what Blackburn and Scotland have been missing in his absence. Brought on as a second-half substitute after Barnsley had deservedly drawn level, Gallacher salvaged a victory that keeps Rovers’ European ambitions burning brightly when he pounced with four minutes left on the clock. Jeff Kenna’s driven ball inside took a deflection off a Barnsley defender to sit up conveniently and that was all the invitation Gallacher needed, rifling it past David Watson to inflict a second late defeat in four days on the Yorkshire side.
“The luck isn’t going with us, but it will even itself out,” insisted their manager, Danny Wilson, afterwards. Substitutes not used: Fairclough, Taylor, Ward (gk).Arsenal (4-3-2-1): Seaman; Grimandi, Keown, Adams, Winterburn; Parlour, Vieira, Petit; Wreh (Bould, 64), Overmars (Hughes, h-t); Anelka (Platt, 86). The Bolton manager added: “You’ve got to remember Arsenal are one of the top sides and will probably win the championship.”Bolton Wanderers (3-5-2): Branagan; Todd (Salako, 52), Fish, Bergsson; Cox, Frandsen, Thompson, Sheridan, Phillips (Johansen, 86); Blake, Holdsworth.

Substitutes not used: Garde; Manninger (gk).Referee: K Burge (Tonypandy).. Blake wriggled into a position goal-side of Keown, who hauled him down on the edge of the area. Mr Burge, who had previously erred on the side of leniency, banished the offender but awarded a free-kick rather than the penalty which Colin Todd claimed it merited. Within two minutes, however, the substitute combined with Emmanuel Petit on the Arsenal left before the Frenchman spotted Wreh 25 yards out. Cutting inside on to his right foot, the Liberian unleashed a vicious rising drive that ripped past Branagan for only his second goal in English football.Bolton’s response was spirited. The old guard who were protecting the England keeper, Tony Adams, Keown, and Steve Bould – who came on after Keown’s exit – won their duels with Nathan Blake and Dean Holdsworth.Blake’s return initially lifted Bolton, who had won their previous two matches. Wreh, the 21- year-old former Monaco player deputising for Bergkamp, caused Bolton problems with his eager running from deep positions.

Anelka ran himself into the ground for the cause.Yet if Arsenal do win one or both of the game’s major prizes, the part played by the defence George Graham built looks likely to be the decisive factor. This eighth successive clean sheet was a Premiership record, and means Arsenal have not conceded a goal in more than 13 hours of League action.David Seaman, who some felt was fortunate to regain his place from Alex Manninger, produced a breathtaking one-handed save to keep out a shot by the outstanding Alan Thompson with 20 minutes remaining. “Why can’t he [Newcombe] say: ‘That’s what we did to Mark and we understand his frustration’,” he said.. ARSENAL’S fourth consecutive victory by their favourite scoreline, secured by a thunderous goal from Christopher Wreh, cut Manchester United’s lead at the Premiership summit to three points last night as well as halting Bolton’s mini-revival

The win was not without cost.