Saturday Spotlight: The goal that never was remains fresh in unlucky Howard's memory

To the naked eye, the ball looked to have been a foot over the line. To Chesterfield boss John Duncan, it was more like a foot-and-a-half. But to referee David Elleray, the only man that mattered, it was deemed far too close to call.

What would have happened to Middlesbrough had the goal gone in? Knocked out of the FA Cup, perhaps the Teessiders would have focused their attention on the league and preserved their Premiership status.

What would have happened to Chesterfield? With the riches that only a cup final can bring, perhaps they would have avoided the financial crisis that ended with them in administration less than three years later.

And what would have happened to Sheffield-born Howard? With an FA Cup semi-final goal to his name, perhaps the striker would not now be a driving instructor having finished his footballing career at Burton Albion.

"Sometimes, you can't help wondering," said Howard, who finally hung up his boots in May 2004 after having made more than 350 appearances for Rotherham, Chesterfield and Burton.

"It's no use dwelling on the past, but every now and then it comes back to you.

"I still speak to Kevin Davies (Howard's partner in the 3-3 draw) and he's obviously doing great things for Bolton now.

"He moved to Southampton within a month of playing in that game. I'm absolutely delighted for him and he deserves everything that's happened, but you can't help thinking, 'I wonder if that could have been me'.

"Nobody can know what would have happened if that goal had been given.

"But I'm sure we would have gone on to win the game and I would have been playing in an FA Cup final.

"If I had done well in that game, who knows?

"The Middlesbrough semi-final was the biggest game of my career but it's also the one that came with the most regrets."

There is little doubt that Boro would have gone on to lose had Howard's 'goal' counted.

As it was, they recovered to claim a 3-2 lead, only for Jamie Hewitt's 120th-minute equaliser to force a replay at Hillsborough that the Teessiders eventually won 3-0.

Endless slow-motion replays have subsequently proved Elleray wrong.

But in the heat of the semi-final action, even Howard concedes the Harrow official was left with a tortuously tricky call.

"To be perfectly honest, even I wasn't sure it had gone in," he said.

"All I remember is striking it as hard as I could. In hindsight, I probably hit it too hard. If I had mishit it, I think it would have gone straight in.

"But as it was, I turned around to see the ball back in play. The other lads were going mental so I turned to look at the linesman.

"He was running back towards the halfway line and I was sure he was giving the goal. But when I turned back towards the referee, he was blowing for a free-kick.

"To this day I feel certain that if we had got Elleray across to the linesman it would have ended with a goal being given."

Instead, Middlesbrough were handed the lifeline that enabled them to reach the final.

While Bryan Robson's side turned their attention to Wembley, Howard returned to the reality of life in the Second Division.

He would go on to spend six more seasons at Saltergate, but his career would continue to be defined by one sunny afternoon in April.

"Funnily enough, I was watching a re-run on Sky earlier this week," he revealed yesterday.

"It's always voted as one of the FA Cup classics and I'm proud to be able to say that I played my part.

"I'll never forget looking around me and seeing Juninho running one way and (Fabrizio) Ravanelli going the other.

"You're talking about two of the best players in the world and they were struggling to keep up with a Second Division side.

"It was something that will live with me for the rest of my life.

"Just playing on the same pitch as those guys was amazing. To be able to say we pushed them so close was the most incredible achievement of all."