Strange But True: Schmeichel’s Unofficial ‘Goal’: 2014

It’s a rare occurrence for a ‘keeper to score in the dying seconds of the game - only on six occasions has it ever happened in the Premier League - but the suspense of seeing them ditch their post and jog the length of the pitch to get up top is exhilarating, all the same. Thoughts of ‘what if’ drift through the minds of 32,000 fans…

And in his 11-year stay at Leicester City, Kasper Schmeichel often tried his luck and added his 6ft 2in frame to the clump of bodies looking to make King Power Stadium bubble over with joy. It’s a feat he’d like to have replicated from his dad, who, in 1995, turned from ‘keeper to poacher in the final minute of a UEFA Cup match. Alas, in Kasper’s case, he never had his name listed on the scoresheet for Leicester City. 

But that’s not to say that Kasper Schmeichel never scored a goal. On 25 March, 2014, City faced relegation-bound Yeovil Town in a Sky Bet Championship game under the lights, and it was a pretty good time to be a City fan. The Foxes sat top of the Championship nearing its conclusion, and the goals were flowing as freely as the wind for City.

If football has taught us anything, though, it’s that you can never count your chickens. Leicester City were guilty of it this day. 

It didn’t matter that they were undefeated for 18 matches, or that they had 27 efforts on goal throughout the 90 minutes; the scoreline read 1-0 to Yeovil, and Leicester were staring down the barrel of a humbling defeat. A defeat that would swing the door wide open for second-place Burnley.

Anyhow: 90 minutes had come and gone, and added time went up on the board. Leicester City, for what felt like the 100th time in the match, went on the attack. The seconds ticked down.

Schmeichel jogged up the length of the pitch as City won a corner, his tall frame and sky blue kit a stark contrast to those in the darker shade. The ball was floated in, and Schmeichel - as if in slow motion - rose tall and headed the ball goal-bound. It thumped into the crossbar and seemingly past the goal line, before Chris Wood ensured there would be no mistake and bundled it into the back of the net. 

The records show it as a Wood goal, but the hearts of each and every Foxes fan remembers a different story.