IT was the kind of miss that could prove impossible to forget. Just as Ronny Rosenthal will forever be remembered for clattering the crossbar at Villa Park or Chris Iwelumo will never be able to live down his open-goal howler for Scotland, so Matt Ritchie will now forever be associated with a moment of footballing madness at Turf Moor.

The Newcastle United winger was two yards out as the ball broke across the six-yard box following a shot from DeAndre Yedlin, with Burnley goalkeeper Joe Hart completely out of position at the opposite side of the goal. Yet somehow, rather than firing home, Ritchie managed to slash a left-footed shot into the side-netting.

He can laugh about it now. Thankfully, the miss did not prove too costly as Newcastle repelled some late Burnley pressure to claim a 2-1 win, and as he left the field, Ritchie was able to share a joke with his manager, Rafael Benitez, about the incident.

It wasn’t so easy to forget at the time though, and as he looks ahead to Saturday’s home game with West Ham United, Ritchie is determined to prove a point. The matter will not be closed completely until he has a first goal of the season to his name.

“I think I was celebrating before I shot,” said the Magpies midfielder. “It is a miss I will probably remember for the rest of my life, but one that I will make sure never happens again.

“I gambled, made a good run to the back post and then when the ball came over....unbelievable. I still can’t work out how I missed it.

“Luckily, it did not cost us so on the outside I can smile about it, but on the inside, it hurts.

“I will move on. I am a strong character. I have had setbacks in my career. I suppose looking at the big picture, this is a minor setback but I want to score goals and I could have made it a bit more comfortable for us, but I didn’t.

“I have made an error, but I’ll keep going, and the goals will come for sure. The plan is to score a goal on Saturday now. I’d love to score this weekend.”

Time seemed to stand still as the ball flashed into the side-netting on Monday night. At first, the only plausible explanation was that there must have been a hole in the back of the net, but within half-a-second or so, it became clear that Ritchie had fired wide.

His disbelief turned to anger as he booted the turf in the back of the net, and he admits it took him most of the second half to move on. With that in mind, it is to his immense credit that he produced such an influential performance as Newcastle held on to claim a third successive win.

“I’m sure there’ll be plenty said about it,” said Ritchie. “In fact, it’s already started. I’m sure the lads will keep reminding me. I’m sure it will be on telly all day, every worst misses compilations, the lot. I won’t be able to forget about it.

“I’ve seen it again, obviously and it doesn’t look good. In the game, I didn’t really understand how I missed it and I kept thinking, ‘How did I miss that?’ when I was trying to concentrate on the game.

“I wasn’t really aware of what was happening in the game. I’ve seen it again - what an opportunity! I’m just delighted and relieved it didn’t cost us.”

Perhaps the biggest shame it that Ritchie’s errant shooting detracted from an otherwise superb performance in the makeshift position of left wing-back.

Slotting in for the injured Paul Dummett, Ritchie produced an excellent defensive display to neuter the attacking threat of Burnley’s dangerous winger, Aaron Lennon. He was always in the right position to contain Lennon’s attacking runs, although he was quick to praise Ayoze Perez for the support the Spaniard provided.

“I thought Ayoze was unbelievable, defensively,” he said. “As for me, in that position, I am comfortable going forward but defensively, not really used to that position. But Ayoze was fantastic, his work rate just sitting inside me was unbelievable.

“When I was one versus one, he was there, but we all helped each other, both on our side and the other. It’s a tough, tough league and we hard to work hard.”