Great Moments in Chelsea History, February 27 Own Goals edition: Trippier, Gerrard, Roffey

The font of great knowledge and trivia that is @ChelseaChadder on Twitter pointed out after last night’s game that Kieran Trippier scoring for Chelsea is actually the third time the Blues have been beneficiaries of an own goal in matches played on February 27. And while most of us weren’t even alive when Leyton Orient’s Bill Roffey scored, Steven Gerrard’s own goal is certainly one of his greatest Chelsea moments, and now Kieran Trippier joins to make this a rather spectacular trio of goals.

Roffey’s own goal, in the 5th round replay of the 1978 FA Cup is certainly worth checking out: a lovely bit of chest control and lobbed finish from a tight angle with Clive “Flash” Walker pressuring from behind. Trippier would be proud. (It starts around the 6:45 mark of the following video.)

Then newly promoted Chelsea would unfortunately go on to lose that match to second division Orient, 2-1.

Steven Gerrard was not so lucky some 27 years later, when his headed goal set Chelsea on their way to victory in the 2005 League (née Carling) Cup final. Liverpool had taken the lead inside of a minute with John Arne Riise’s thumping volley, then held fast (these were Rafa’s Reds, after all) as Chelsea spent the next 78 minutes searching for an equalizer. And then Gerrard popped up, literally, with an UN-SAVE-ABLE header from Paulo Ferreira’s free kick (that should’ve not even happened as the referee should’ve played advantage). Just a month prior, Chelsea were strongly linked with Gerrard and many made the joke afterwards that this would be the first of many goals he’d score for the Blues — although for Gerrard himself it was a bit of a nightmarish situation (though he would go on to win the Champions League later that season after Luis Garcia’s ghost goal eliminated Chelsea in the semifinals).

Bonus iconic memory from this League Cup final is José Mourinho’s shushing of the Liverpool supporters after the equalizer, for which he was sent off and had to watch the rest of the game (regulation and extra time) from the dressing room. The own goal starts around the 6:30 mark, but this is a classic match and its highlights are well worth (re-)watching from start to finish.

And thus we get to yesterday, where Kieran Trippier showed us a clinic in staying cool, calm, and composed to pass the ball into the back of the net. The own goal gets even better with Peter Drury’s commentary from Trippier’s goal at the World Cup against Croatia spliced in.

B-E-A-utiful!