Three Newcastle United Keepers In One Match!

The final minutes of Newcastle’s convincing defeat of Liverpool saw the lonely figure of Jose Enrique between the sticks after Reina got his marching orders.

Along with Andy Carroll, ex-Newcastle favourite Enrique was mercilessly booed throughout the ninety minutes but I bet those last ten minutes stuck by himself in front of the taunting Leazes End must have felt like an eternity.

In this modern age of reseerve keepers available as one of three possible substitutions, it is a very rare sight to see an outfield player having to take over in goal.

However, back in the days of only one substitute it took one bad knock and your keeper was off, it being a very rare sight to see a goalkeeper taking up the only place on the subs bench.

Certain occasions such as Vinny Jones going in goal for Wimbledon spring to mind, the man we loved to hate got begrudging applause at St.James’ Park as he made some fine saves despite letting in the last three of a 6-1 defeat after replacing his injured keeper.

That though pales into insignificance to one day over twenty five years ago, 21st April 1986 at Upton Park.

Standing on the away terrace it is certainly a night I won’t ever forget and neither will the West Ham centre-back, Alvin Martin.

Alvin being the answer when the quizmaster asks which player has scored against three different goalkeepers in the same match!

The match kicked off with Martin Thomas in the Newcastle goal and after conceding to Alvin Martin he later had to be replaced by the Geordie centre-back Chris Hedworth, who again after conceding to the West Ham centre-back had to also leave the pitch with an injury.

Step forward the unlikely figure of Peter Beardsley who ended the match with some decent saves but conceded the hat-trick goal to Alvin Martin. I forgot to mention that West Ham happened to score another five with the match ending 8-1, Newcastle lucky to get 1!

Happy days!

Watch the match highlights below, courtesy of The Mag’s YouTube channel, as proof that fact is sometimes stranger than fiction.
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