Benson title clincher is goal of the season
In the 66th minute of our game against Blackburn Rovers just over three weeks ago, Manuel Benson scored a spectacular goal that gave us the lead, proved to be the only goal of the game and allowed us to clinch the Championship title right in front of our fiercest rivals in their own home.
It was the third of four superb Benson goals in successive games. I thought the last of them at Bristol City was the best but it was no surprise that, given where it was and the enormity of the goal, that it was always likely to win our vote for the goal of the season and it duly did just that.
The Belgian, signed last summer from Royal Antwerp, had only been on the pitch for eight minutes when he received the ball from Jack Cork out wide on the right before moving forward, coming inside and unleashing his trademark shot into the far corner leaving home goalkeeper Ainsley Pears helpless right in front of the limited number of Burnley supporters permitted to be there.
It didn’t just win the Up the Clarets Goal of the Season, it literally walked it from the minute the voting opened last Monday and when the voting closed last night it had picked up just about half of the vote.
Of the twenty goals to select from, three others went past the 10% return to take the next three places. Ashley Barnes’ header that opened the scoring in the big 3-0 home win against the same opponents came second with a 15% share and that goal was enhanced with him pushing the goalkeeper, then Thomas Kaminski, into the back of the net and his after match comments.
Benson’s final goal at Bristol City, which was so similar to the Blackburn goal, although I felt a more difficult execution, won him third place too. Like Barnes’ goal, it won him 15% with three votes less.
Having been 2-0 down at Sunderland, we came back in the second half to win 4-2. The third goal was memorable; a wonderful strike from Anass Zaroury that stunned us all at the far end of the Stadium of Light. He won 11% of the vote to take fourth place.
Benson joins Jeff Hendrick (twice), Steven Defour, Jay Rodriguez, Matt Lowton and Maxwel Cornet in winning this award. All the winners are at Up the Clarets Awards which can be found on the top menu.
Next week, we’ll be asking you to select which you thought was our best home performance of the season. In previous seasons we’ve included all the wins and draws; indeed in 2017/18 it was won by the 1-1 draw against Manchester City. This time, it will be just the wins.
GOAL OF THE SEASON RESULT
50% – Manuel Benson v Blackburn (a)
15% – Ashley Barnes 1st v Blackburn (h)
15% – Manuel Benson v Bristol City (a)
11% – Anass Zaroury v Sunderland (a)
3% – Scott Twine v West Brom (h)
1% – Ashley Barnes 2nd v Blackburn (h)
1% – Manuel Benson v Rotherham (h)
1% – Manuel Benson v Rotherham (a)
1% – Jóhann Berg Guðmundsson v QPR (a)
All other goals received less than one percent of the vote.
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