Sports
How one Ipswich backpass caused two of the craziest minutes in the Premier League this season
Just when you think you’ve seen everything that football has to offer, along come Ipswich Town.
Amid another morale-sapping defeat that all but sealed their relegation from the Premier League, Ipswich, with a little help from their opponents, Wolverhampton Wanderers, served up the maddest two minutes of Premier League action you are likely to see this season.
A backpass, a mistake, a save, a free kick, a melee on the goal line, a thudding shot and a point-blank block… there was nothing technically proficient about any of it, but it was memorable. Are you not entertained?
For the uninitiated, this was all about the backpass law, introduced to football in 1992 with the aim of making the game less dull. In the main it has been a huge success, and it certainly was at Portman Road on Saturday.
The rule prevents goalkeepers from handling the ball if it has been passed back to them intentionally by a team-mate and it was conceived to stop teams wasting time, as they often did in the 1980s by passing the ball repeatedly back to their goalkeeper.
It has made goalkeepers learn to play with their feet and usually only comes into play when a goalkeeper loses concentration and picks up a ball after forgetting where it has come from.
Alan Shearer scored for England when Georgia were punished in 1997, Cristiano Ronaldo did so for Manchester United against Aston Villa in 2009 and Bayern Munich even sealed a Bundesliga title in 2001 after Hamburg were punished for one.
But Saturday was very different, a whole lot more entertaining and fairly comical — not least because it threw up a situation that clearly neither team could have prepared for.
In the 36th minute and with Ipswich 1-0 ahead in a game they effectively had to win to keep alive a chance of avoiding relegation, the Republic of Ireland international Dara O’Shea rolled a routine backpass towards his goalkeeper and former West Bromwich Albion colleague Alex Palmer — the fact two former employees of their bitterest local rivals conspired to almost hand them a goal would not have been lost on many Wolves fans.
It was so routine, in fact, that Palmer forgot to do part one — controlling the ball — before turning to part two — deciding what to do with it.
Palmer literally took his eye off the ball, allowed it to roll under his foot and glorious chaos ensued.
The Ipswich goalkeeper did the only thing he could do and scrambled back into his goal, diving and just about clawing the ball away before it crossed the line for the most embarrassing of own goals.
It was touch and go, but Palmer saved his own blushes.
But using his hands forced referee Peter Bankes to award a foul.
Had an outfield player used his hands to claw the ball off the line, it would have meant a penalty and a red card for denying a goalscoring opportunity.
But the backpass law makes an exception for goalkeepers, so Palmer got away with an indirect free kick a few yards out.
An indirect free kick means that two players must touch the ball before a goal is scored — the player taking the first touch cannot shoot directly from the free kick. If the player taking the indirect free kick were to score with the first touch, a goal kick would be awarded to the defending team.
The players on the defending team must be at least 10 yards from where the free kick is being taken, unless they are on their own goal line and between the goalposts.
In the meticulous world of modern Premier League football, coaches prepare teams for almost every eventuality but this was one that was hard to envisage.
So Ipswich resorted to putting every one of their 11 players on the goal line — like a scene from Braveheart.
As for Wolves, in the absence of any cleverly thought-out short free-kick routine, they simply rolled it to their biggest, most powerful centre-back and asked him to whack it as hard as he could.
Emmanuel Agbadou made a firm enough contact but the free kick was so close that Sam Morsy — born and raised in Wolverhampton but now captaining a club 170 miles away — had time to charge out of Ipswich’s defensive army and charge it down with his shin.
The ball ballooned up and away to safety to complete one of the season’s most bizarre passages of play.
So Ipswich got away with a comical error but it was not enough to save them as Wolves fought back in the second half to win 2-1 through Pablo Sarabia and Jorgen Strand Larsen.
Ipswich fans will remember the game for another late giveaway that virtually confirmed their return to the Championship.
The rest of football will remember it for two minutes of craziness.
Sports
Tennessee softball escapes WCWS elimination game with win over UCLA despite controversial game-tying homer
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Controversy struck the Women’s College World Series (WCWS) during an elimination game between UCLA and Tennessee on Sunday.
Bruins first baseman Megan Grant came up to the plate with two outs and a runner on first and crushed a pitch off Volunteers pitcher Karlyn Pickens to tie the game, or so everyone thought.
Tennessee bats are shown up before the game against UCLA in the Women’s College World Series, June 1, 2025, in Oklahoma City, Okla. (Brett Rojo/Imagn Images)
Grant rounded third and headed for home to celebrate with her teammates. She didn’t appear to touch home plate and a teammate needed to bring her back to make sure she did.
Tennessee challenged the run and umpires reviewed it to see whether she touched home plate and whether she was “assisted” back to make sure she definitely made contact with it. College softball rules specify that a runner cannot be physically assisted by a teammate to touch the plate.
“After review, the call on the field is upheld and the run will score,” the umpire announced. “The runner did miss home plate and was assisted. However, that play is not reviewable, according to Appendix G.”
Appendix G in the NCAA softball rulebook determines what is reviewable.
TRAILER FOR ‘COLLEGE FOOTBALL 26’ RELEASED, WITH GAME TO INCLUDE REAL-LIFE COACHES
Tennessee huddles before the Women’s College World Series softball game on Sunday. (SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN/USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
It was a huge break for the Bruins as they were able to extend the game.
Tennessee came up in the bottom of the ninth and pushed one run across the plate to win the game, 5-4. Infielder Laura Mealer singled home Taylor Pannell to win it.
The Volunteers now move onto the next round and UCLA goes home. Tennessee faces Texas in the semifinals on Monday. They need to beat the Longhorns twice to move to the championship.
UCLA’s Sofia Mujica and Alexis Ramirez each hit home runs for the Bruins in the loss.
Tennessee’s McKenna Gibson slides home as UCLA’s Alexis Ramirez attempts the tag in the first inning of Sunday’s game. (SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN/USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
Pickens pitched all nine innings for the Volunteers and struck out seven batters.
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CORVALLIS, Ore. — USC baseball wanted to be aggressive knowing it was entering a hostile environment, playing in front of a sold-out crowd of 4,347 at Goss Stadium.
The Trojans tried to set the tone early.
Instead, it backfired, costing them early opportunities, early momentum and ultimately Sunday night’s matchup in a 14-1 loss to Oregon State in the Corvallis Regional final.
USC opened with two hard hits. Brayden Dowd singled and Ethan Hedges followed with a rocket to right-center field that came off the bat at 104 mph. It one-hopped the wall for an easy double that could have set the Trojans up with two runners in scoring position and no outs. But USC third base coach Travis Jewett was spinning his arm almost immediately, sending Dowd home.
Oregon State pitcher Kellan Oakes celebrates after striking out a batter to leave the bases loaded Sunday.
(Shotgun Spratling / For The Times)
Shortstop Aiva Arquette, an expected top 10 pick in next month’s MLB draft, fired a throw home that brought catcher Wilson Weber into the baseline where he applied the tag to Dowd while his knee collided with the head of the Trojans’ outfielder.
The play invigorated the home crowd and set the tone for the beatdown to follow that saw the No. 8 national seed Beavers thoroughly outplay the Trojans despite playing its second game of the day facing elimination. Oregon State pummeled Saint Mary’s, 20-3, Sunday afternoon to reach the final.
The next half inning, Oregon State attacked USC with four bunts that helped generate four runs. The Trojans’ aggressiveness again bit them.
Oregon State’s Wilson Weber, left, scores a run as USC third baseman Ethan Hedges misplays a bunt Sunday.
(Shotgun Spratling / For The Times)
After they took the out at first on an initial sacrifice attempt, the Trojans twice tried to cut down runners at home with ill-fated results. Third baseman Hedges muffed a barehand attempt when the ball bounced with funky spin on a hard bunt that one-hopped. The Beavers bunted again on the next pitch. First baseman Adrian Lopez tried to come home and was too late.
A base hit through the middle scored the next run before Oregon State went back to the bunt to score the fourth run, prompting the crowd to start chanting “Small Ball! Small Ball! Small Ball!”
Oregon State added two runs in the third inning to take a 6-1 lead. USC had a huge opportunity to get back in the game in the fifth inning, loading the bases with no outs and the heart of the lineup due up.
But the Beavers’ pitching staff had USC’s 3-4-5 hitters in a blender all night. Starter Wyatt Queen struck out Bryce Martin-Grudzielanek for the third time before turning the ball over to reliever Kellan Oakes, who struck out Lopez and Abbrie Covarrubias to escape the jam unscathed.
USC coach Andy Stankiewicz walks back to the dugout during a 14-1 loss to Oregon State on Sunday.
(Shotgun Spratling / For The Times)
Oregon State then piled on runs against the lesser-used arms in USC’s bullpen, scoring three runs in the sixth on Trent Caraway’s fourth home run in as many games.
USC has a chance for redemption Monday as Oregon State’s win forces a winner-take-all regional final at 3 p.m. PDT (ESPNU).
Sports
Tyrese Haliburton dunks on Ben Stiller after Pacers clinch NBA Finals berth with win over Knicks
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Tyrese Haliburton got the last laugh on Saturday night as he fired back at New York Knicks fan Ben Stiller on social media following Indiana’s Eastern Conference Finals victory.
Haliburton had 21 points, 13 assists and three steals as the Pacers won Game 6, 125-108. Pascal Siakam led Indiana with 31 points and Obi Toppin had 18 points off the bench.
Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton holds up the trophy after the Pacers won Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the New York Knicks in Indianapolis, Saturday, May 31, 2025. (AP Photo/AJ Mast)
Haliburton and his other Pacers teammates entered the Gainbridge Fieldhouse wearing all black, alluding to having a funeral for the Knicks and the series. He carried a black duffel bag with him as he walked through the arena’s corridor. Stiller had some words on X.
“Good thing he brought his duffel for the flight to NY,” he wrote.
After the game, Haliburton fired back.
“Nah, was to pack y’all up,” Haliburton wrote.
It will be the first time the Pacers will compete in the NBA Finals since 2000, when the Reggie Miller and Rik Smits-led team ran into the Los Angeles Lakers. The franchise has never won an NBA championship, but had three American Basketball Association titles before the merger.
Ben Stiller, right, and Timothée Chalamet attend Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Indiana Pacers and the New York Knicks in Indianapolis, Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
2025 NBA CHAMPIONSHIP ODDS: THUNDER FAVORED IN TILT WITH PACERS
Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle knows there’s still a major challenge ahead.
“This is no time to be popping champagne,” he said. “When you get to this point of the season, it’s two teams and it’s one goal. So it becomes an all or nothing thing and we understand the magnitude of it.”
Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton, left, celebrates with his father, John Haliburton, after winning Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the New York Knicks in Indianapolis, Saturday, May 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
The Pacers will meet the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Finals, starting on Thursday. The Thunder were the best team in the NBA all season long. Oklahoma City defeated Indiana in both matchups during the regular season.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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