EXCLUSIVE
Football rule change demanded after outrageous Leyton Orient goal against Man City
Football needs a law change around own-goals after Tottenham loanee Jamie Donley was denied a historic FA Cup strike.
That is the view of talkSPORT host Adrian Durham, who bore witness to League One Leyton Orient taking the lead in their fourth-round tie against Premier League champions Manchester City.
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Spurs loanee Donley struck an ambitious effort from 55 yards which flew over an outstretched Stefan Ortega.
The shot crashed off the crossbar and hit the back of Ortega to open the scoring for the League One side.
Premier League champions City would eventually come back to win 2-1 - as Donley's strike was cancelled out in more ways than one.
It went down as an Ortega own-goal, denying the Orient man with a slice of FA Cup history.
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Reacting on talkSPORT, Donley said: "I've heard it's gone down as an own goal, but I was very happy when we went 1-0 up.
"It was obviously a very nice moment for me. And all my family that were here today."
And even City manager Pep Guardiola was impressed with the wonder strike.
"Just congratulate the incredible goal, incredible kick and so much quality," Guardiola told talkSPORT.
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"And the moment the ball was flying, I said, oh, so it's going to do something special. Congratulations for the guy. It was incredible."
Despite all that, the goal does not belong to Donley, something talkSPORT's pundits unanimously disagreed with.
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England legend Stuart Pearce said: “It will be the biggest travesty in football if that’s given as an own-goal. It will be. We know that. But it was just brilliance.”
The more cynical football fans among us would argue that Donley's shot technically missed the target - and does not go in without bouncing off Ortega.
But chief football anchor Durham insisted players should be awarded goals that deflected off the woodwork and the goalkeeper from now on.
“Is there anything else that can be better than that, this weekend?" Durham said.
“I think this should lead to a law change on own-goals. That shouldn’t go down as an own-goal.
“They should make a law change based solely on this game!”
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And host Reshmin Choudhury was in ‘absolute’ agreement.
"Jamie Donley deserves to have that on his CV moving forward,” she said.
New signing Abdukodir Khusanov managed to edge Man City back in the match with his first goal for the club.
Substitute Kevin De Bruyne followed suit with an outstretched poke to put his side in front.
Following their embarrassing 5-1 loss to Arsenal, Man City were aiming to use this cup tie as a confidence booster to get their form back on track.
But Leyton Orient proved to be a tougher test than Pep Guardiola most likely thought.
Unfortunately for him, February will continue to be a rough road for his side as they are scheduled to face Real Madrid and Liverpool.
The Spanish giants have played Man City in the last four Champions League knockout stages with victory being at two apiece.
Newcastle will also take a trip to the Etihad while Alexander Isak in red-hot form with 17 league goals.
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To finish the month, Tottenham, who have proven to be Man City’s bogey team, will host the reigning champions.
The previous meeting between the two sides resulted in a 4-0 defeat.