David Templeton has joked his iconic Hearts strike against Liverpool ‘should have gone down as an own goal’ as he recalled giving the Anfield side a fright in their own back yard.
The Jambos travelled to the Premier League giants in hope rather than expectation in August 2012 for a Europa League qualifying tie despite a tight first leg in Gorgie.
An Andy Webster own goal was the only thing that separated the sides on that evening but after a goalless 83 minutes at the home of the then-five time European champions, the Gorgie faithful were sent into dreamland by the young winger’s strike.
Cutting in on his right, the wide man arrowed a low drive towards goal that was spilled over the line by World Cup winner Pepe Reina to give the visitors a 1-0 lead on the night and level the tie on aggregate.
The moment of joy was short lived as Luis Suarez equalised moments later to put the hosts ahead over the two legs, an advantage they sustained to reach the group stages of the competition at Hearts’ expense.
Appearing on BBC Scotland’s Off the Ball, Templeton admitted he did not realise his effort had crossed the line until the away support behind the goal reacted as he revealed his pride at writing himself into Hearts history.
“We’d played well in the first leg but we went there in the second and they played a bit of a stronger team,” he told hosts Stuart Cosgrove and Tam Cowan.
“So Suarez, [Steven] Gerrard, [Jamie] Carragher were playing, I think just because the first leg was quite tight.
“We scored in the 83rd minute I think but then Suarez scored a few minutes later, but they just turned it up a notch.
“We were seven minutes away from taking them to extra time, but obviously they had players that when they needed to lift it, they could and that’s what they did. Suarez just made it look easy.
“We were expected to go down there, get beat 5-0 and just be there to take part but as the game went on, we had a couple of half chances, it was close.
“My shot, I didn’t even think it had gone in to be honest, it wasn’t until I saw the fans I realised. I still say it was an own goal but somehow I managed to get it.
“We could have got to extra time and they could have taken three or four off us but it was still brilliant.
