David Healy’s goal that wasn’t for Fulham against Middlesbrough on Saturday once more opened up the debate for goalline video technology in football.

The Northern Ireland international striker headed the ball home at the far post to seemingly give his side a last-minute equaliser. Mark Schwarzer, the Middlesbrough goalkeeper, initially fumbled the ball some 12 inches over the line before scrambling it back into the field of play, an act which went unnoticed by the officials but not by the television cameras.

It did not make many headlines, because the match involved two unfashionable clubs. But what if this had happened in Sunday's clash of the titans at Anfield between Liverpool and Chelsea? Rafa Benitez might have been able to shrug it off in the same manner he did the controversial penalty awarded against Steve Finnan in that game, but Jose Mourinho, the Chelsea manager, would have been apoplectic, just like he was when the incident happened in reverse in the Champions League, Luis Garcia scoring the "phantom goal” in the semi-final between the same two sides in 2005.

There is a growing list of instances where the wrong call has been made over whether the ball did or did not cross the line and here are some of the most famous:

Clive Allen, Coventry v Crystal Palace, September 1980

Allen, playing for Palace in those days, collected a free-kick passed square to him by Gerry Francis and lashed it goalwards, the ball arrowing into the far corner of the net. Only the thunderbolt hit the stanchion behind the goal and rebounded out so quickly that the referee did not even see that it had gone a good three feet over the line. Watch it here.

“They called my free-kick at Coventry the ‘goal that never was’ and soon after that they got rid of the stanchion at the back of the net,” Allen said. “We were 2-1 down so it would have been an equaliser — but we lost 3-1. We went on a bad run after that and went down and that certainly contributed.”

Watch Frank Skinner and David Baddiel relieve the goal with Allen in our classic YouTube clip, and Skinner is right, whatever else came of this sorry incident, that thing that helps hold the net up is definitely not called a “staunchon”.

Pedro Mendes, Manchester United v Tottenham Hotspur, January 2005

Tottenham, having given a good account of themselves, were still holding United goalless at Old Trafford with just over a minute to go. Carroll raced from his goal in an attempt to pump the ball back into the Tottenham penalty area, but after a bit of head tennis the ball fell to Pedro Mendes, some six yards over the halfway line, who spotted Carroll haring back towards his own goal. The goalkeeper regained his ground in time to make what should have been a routine catch, but inexplicably spilled the ball behind him, where it bounced once before he scooped it back out, having been an estimated two feet behind the line. “Tottenham are furious, they believe they have been denied a goal,” said commentator Alan Parry at the time. “Carroll has been denied the most embarrassing moment of his career, that is a travesty.” It certainly is a decision that Mark Clattenburg, the referee and in particular Rob Lewis, his linesman, will want to forget. Watch it here.

Jonathan Howard, Middlesbrough v Chesterfield, April 1997

Chesterfield, of Division Two, looking to cause a huge upset, raced into a two-goal lead in this famous FA Cup semi-final at Old Trafford. Still ahead 2-1 and trying to weather a comeback from Middlesbrough, Jonathan Howard appeared to have given them some breathing room when he fired a shot that rebounded down off the crossbar. David Elleray, the referee, was unsighted and unable to award a goal, though replays later showed it was several inches over the line. The match ended 3-3 with Middlesbrough winning the replay 3-0.

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