At Ashton Gate, as we’ve now learned, there is a metal frame running around the bottom of the net, and from what I could see this is what the ball bounced off – it didn’t actually hit the net. I’m not sure why City have these goals in place, but if they had the nets which are present around much of the league then the ball would have nestled and not rebounded out.

Damon, for me it’s not a case of the goals at Ashton Gate being too modern, but of the goals not being modern enough. The rigid, square nets we have nowadays would’ve held the ball.

In many ways it was just as obvious as Sears goal, but because it came after a long punt up field, the officials weren’t able to catch it. The point is, if referees aren’t able to spot the ball crossing the lines in the most favourable of circumstances, how can we trust them to make the right decision when it’s not as clear?

The issue is one to do with the old adage ‘back of the net’.

The problem is to do with the way goal/goal stantions and goal frames are set up nowadays. They are to ridgid and square. I am not too aware of the legisalation and the likes about goal netting but if goal frames just had excessive amounts of netting in the back of the net i.e. a means of the ball nestling in the back of the net this issue would not have occured.

Bristol City like so many other clubs have a goal frame that was more like a hockey goal. At the back was a steel framework that meant that the ball just bouned back out. The way the ball sped in and out made it impossible for the referee to judge what had actually happened.

When I play football we pin the back of thw net down with secure pins. This format ensures that no football would ever bounce out once knocked in.

The issue for me then is one of football netting/goal frames modernising too far and creating problems for itself. Perhaps if groundsman fixed the back of the net to the ground via secure pins it would ensure that when the ball is knocked in, it remains in the ‘back of the net.’

After all ‘back of the net’ is one of the games favourite soundbites…do we want that to be replaced by stuff like ‘goal technology robots’ or ‘virtual referees’.

It can only be good. The average american sports fan doesn’t have the slightest clue as to the unwritten hierarchy of clubs across Europe.