The time Darren Bent scored one of the most infamous goals in Premier League history for Sunderland

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Darren Bent enjoyed a prolific two-year spell at Sunderland, where he played some of the best football of his career.

The 41-year-old plied his trade at the Stadium of Light between 2009 and 2011, scoring 36 goals in 63 appearances for the club across all competitions.

Aston Villa smashed their transfer record to prise him out of Wearside in a £24 million deal in 2011. While that may be pocket change in comparison to today’s market, at the time, it was one of the biggest transfer stories in English football.

Bent, a member of the Premier League’s illustrious 100 club, scored some truly iconic goals for the club, including a winner against Arsenal, a hat-trick against Bolton, and a brace against former club Tottenham Hotspur.

However, there is one goal in particular from Bent that is still talked about to this very day and is widely regarded as one of the most infamous goals in Premier League history.

Darren Bent’s infamous beach ball goal for Sunderland vs Liverpool

On 17 October 2009, Liverpool travelled to the Stadium of Light in poor form, having lost their last two matches in all competitions, whereas Sunderland were heading into the clash off the back of an impressive 2-2 draw away at Manchester United.

Inside the opening five minutes, the ball fell kindly to Bent on the edge of the penalty area, who sent a first-time shot towards Pepe Reina in the Liverpool goal.

But as football fans across England will remember, an away fan threw a beach ball onto the pitch, and Bent’s shot ricocheted off the ball, leaving Reina stranded, allowing Bent to score the only goal of the game.

While it is not the most impressive goal Bent scored in a Sunderland shirt, it is by far the most memorable and one of the most comedic moments to occur in the Premier League.

Bent’s 15-year-old record for the Black Cats was recently broken by Wilson Isidor, emphasising how instrumental he truly was during his time at the Stadium of Light.

Although Kevin Phillips is the most prolific Sunderland striker during the modern era, Bent is certainly not far off despite his short-lived stint on Wearside.

Nevertheless, the pundit undoubtedly etched himself in history on that day in 2009, and it is highly unlikely that supporters will ever see anything like it again.

What Darren Bent said about his beach ball goal

The moment resurfaces every year around the anniversary of the incident, as fans, players, and pundits alike are still in awe of what happened at the Stadium of Light.

In an interview with Sky Sports in 2019, ten years after the match, Bent said how he felt when the ball hit the back of the net against Liverpool.

“Andy Reid got down the line on the right. He had a wand of a left foot – but as it was on his right foot, and I knew he’d cut it back and get it into a good area.

“All the defenders ran into the six-yard box, but I pulled out a little bit. I remember it coming across the box, and as it bounced up and was on its way to me, I was thinking to myself, ‘hit the target. Hit the target’.

“I didn’t connect with it that well, but I knew it was going on target… Then it hit the beach ball and went in! But I didn’t think anything of it. I didn’t think ‘oh my god, look what’s just happened,’ I just thought ‘it’s a goal!’ and ran off.”

“I’ve seen the goal played back, I don’t know how many times now, and you look at the reactions on different people’s faces. Pepe Reina’s face, Glen Johnson’s face, Jamie Carragher’s face… everyone is like ‘what’s happened here?!'”

“I remember the referee’s face at half-time when he came to see me. He said ‘did it hit the ball?’. When I said, ‘Yeah,’ there was panic in his face. He realised he’d made a bit of a mistake!”