IN FOUR decades of watching football, I saw a first this week.

I had never been at a game and seen a goalkeeper score – until Tuesday night.

With a pretty poor match entering its final minute of stoppage time, Morecambe's Barry Roche headed an equaliser against Portsmouth.

He timed his jump perfectly to meet a late corner and grab an unlikely point for his team – the first goal in a career approaching 500 games.

No wonder Roche milked the moment and popped up for national radio appearances the following day.

Suddenly a nondescript League Two encounter had become big news.

But it got me thinking, why is a goalkeeper scoring such a rare occurrence?

It's hardly a surprise any more to see the stopper thrown forward for one last frantic push from a set-piece.

It happens at a lot of games – so why don't they score more?

The panic in the opposition defence highlighted the effectiveness of a tactic borne out of desperation. Every defender had their player to mark at the corner but nobody thought of sticking on the keeper.

You see goalies score from time to time: Kasper Schmeichel and Asmir Begovic (with a wind-assisted clearance) were quite high-profile efforts and the daddy of them all from Jimmy Glass which kept Carlisle in the Football League.

But given their height and command in the air with crosses at the other end, you would imagine the keeper to contribute given the right service.

Ben Williams, the pressure is on!