Guy Butters: My Portsmouth regret over infamous Sunderland handball
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When Alan Knight punched out Gary Owers' cross on 36 minutes, it fell invitingly to Gordon Armstrong.
The midfielder’s goal-bound lob was subsequently palmed off the line by Butters.
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Hide AdIt set in motion a 4-1 Blues defeat, a May 1993 outcome which cost Jim Smith’s side automatic promotion to the Premier League.
Butters earned a red card for his indiscretion, while Paul Walsh was also later dismissed in that Roker Park encounter.
Now, 26 years later, Kenny Jackett’s in-form side are to head to the Stadium of Light.
Defeat would condemn them to the play-offs, as it did Butters and his team-mates.
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Hide AdThe former central defender said: ‘I was a bit young, a bit impetuous, full of bravado.
‘You think you are bulletproof when you are 23 and, in hindsight, when you are a bit older and a bit more experienced I would have dealt with it differently.
‘Knightsie punched it and didn’t make a great connection, so it was put back in. As a defender, your natural instinct is to not concede, you have to try to do something.
‘Before you know it, I stuck out a hand and saved it. Literally a quarter of a yard closer and and I would have headed it.
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Hide Ad‘Click your fingers, that’s how quickly you have to make a decision. It was the wrong decision.
‘I think it would have been a tough task going up there and winning anyway, but for nine men it wasn’t going to happen.
‘We should still have won in the play-offs against Leicester, it was an offside goal.
‘Mind you, I've seen a YouTube clip and the commentator and the caption were wrong – they called me ‘Gary’ Butters. So technically it wasn’t me!
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Hide Ad‘Besides, I always blame Knightsie, he should have punched it further.’
Despite winning their final match, Smith’s side were beaten to second place through goals scored.
They then lost out 3-2 on aggregate to Leicester in those 1992-93 play-offs.
Butters added: ‘Jackett's men have beaten Sunderland twice this season.
‘It’s a perfect example of having cool heads, relax, stay in the game for as long as you can
‘Keep plugging away, keep believing in yourself, you never know what could happen.’
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