England forward Chloe Kelly says women should never let anyone tell them they can't succeed, after Joey Barton sparked controversy with comments about female pundits working in football.

Speaking at the launch of the first ever Panini Barclays Women's Super League sticker collection at the National Football Museum, former Lionesses goalkeeper Rachel Brown-Finnis joined Kelly to call for women to ignore Barton's 'clickbait' criticism.

Former Manchester City and Newcastle United midfielder Barton made headlines recently over a series of negative social media posts about women working in the men's game.

Writing on X, formerly known as Twitter, Barton said women "shouldn't be talking with any kind of authority in the men's game", calling women's football a "different" sport and describing the decision to employ female pundits and commentators as "tokenism".

Chelsea Women's manager Emma Hayes and former Arsenal defender Alex Scott have both hit out at Barton's comments in recent days, and Kelly – the scorer of England's winning goal in the Euro 2022 final against Germany – has now joined them.

"We've broken down barriers throughout our careers, every woman involved in sport, especially in football," Kelly said. 

"We've broken down barriers to get where we are today, and we keep breaking down those barriers and not letting people tell us we can't. As you can see today, women can achieve great things.

"I definitely like to prove people wrong. I think every female has done just that along the way, proving people wrong. 

"I think we're showing exactly what we're capable of and every woman working in football is showing that they're able to do so."

Brown-Finnis, who has worked as a pundit on men's and women's football since retiring in 2015, suggested Barton's comments were primarily intended to cause outrage, rather than representing his honest views.

"It's one voice on social media that reaches a lot of people's ears and unfortunately, that's the nature of social media," she said of Barton's posts.

"We as women in football, whether it be women's football or men's football, we hear these voices on a regular basis. I think you can choose to listen to them or you can choose to not listen to them. 

"I understand that platform is for anybody to have their say. He's entitled to his view, if that is a true view, but in my opinion it's more of a clickbait exercise."

Interim Bristol Rovers manager Andy Mangan raised the prospect that he could take charge of the Gas following Joey Barton’s sacking after a 2-1 over Northampton at the Memorial Stadium.

Mangan was placed in temporary charge of the first team in the wake of Barton’s exit on Thursday and such was his players’ response that he is already quizzed about the possibility of taking over on a permanent basis.

When asked about being in line to replace Barton, Mangan told reporters in his post-match news conference: “That’s a really difficult question to ask because Joey’s my friend.

“I’ve been asked to take over the team because of what’s happened this week and all I can do is do my best.

“If we keep winning, then who knows what will happen, but all I can do is every single day come and try to make my players better.

“But I have to say the staff have been fantastic and I’ve got nothing but thanks to everyone at the club.

“Joe and me have been together longer than everyone else here so it’s been tough.

“But it’s been wonderful seeing the way people have been coming together and long may that continue.

“I don’t know what happens next – all I can do is keep working diligently every day.”

Mangan saw striker Chris Martin give his side the perfect start, back-heeling Aaron Collins’ cut-back beyond Cobblers goalkeeper Lee Burge after 10 minutes.

Antony Evans doubled the lead on the half-hour, calmly beating Burge from the penalty spot after the former Sunderland goalkeeper felled Collins.

Emmanuel Monthe halved the lead in the 57th minute when he nodded in Mitchell Pinnock’s free-kick to set up a tense finale.

“I’m an optimist and I think we can beat everyone else, but we can be miles better,” Mangan added.

“Victory felt really good because what happened was a complete shock and to be thrust into it and come away with a 2-1 is something we should all be proud of.

“It’s been a tough week for everyone and the players have to take a lot of credit because they performed to their maximum.

“After the first 10 minutes we were magnificent and when the onslaught came the lads should take credit for standing firm.”

Northampton manager Jon Brady, whose side are now only outside the Sky Bet League One relegation zone on goal difference, expressed frustration with the outcome.

He said: “We started well and had two or three chances, and then gave away easy goals that left us having to fight our way back into the game.

“We got a goal back and pushed and pushed, and we were knocking on the door, but we’re giving ourselves a mountain to climb every single time.

“We dominated every facet of the game. We had 60 per cent possession, but the game’s not about possession, it’s about how you use that ball and having purpose.

“We didn’t put the ball in the back of the net and then it’s too easy for the opposition to score.

“I’m really disappointed but we played quite well, but didn’t come away with anything which is frustrating.”

Both managers were angry with referee Simon Mather after Oxford United beat Bristol Rovers 2-1 at the Kassam Stadium in a match that saw three red cards dished out.

Rovers had Jevani Brown dismissed for two yellow cards midway through the second half, and Oxford had two of their substitutes, Oisin Smyth and Stan Mills, sent off in stoppage time.

Billy Bodin and Sam Long scored the goals which secured Oxford’s fifth successive Sky Bet League One victory, despite Aaron Collins’ late consolation.

United head coach Liam Manning said: “It was chaos at the end. I need to see the Mills one back again before I say anything about it because my initial decision is that it wasn’t a red card.

“I was delighted with the win, but I’m not happy with the end.

“We made it hard for ourselves with some of our decisions on the ball and not putting chances away, and we need to be more disciplined – that’s something I’ll have to look at.

“I don’t really want to be talking about the referee, I’d much rather talk about the performance, but the level of refereeing performances in general is not meeting the standards we need.

“And it’s just frustrating that the outcome of some games seems to depend on the referee.

“It was a tough first half. Out of possession we ended up conceding too much of the ball. The one moment of real quality came from Billy Bodin for our goal.”

Bristol Rovers boss Joey Barton felt his side should have had a penalty and that Collins’ disallowed goal in the first half should not have been ruled out.

“I feel severely aggrieved by the referee’s performance,” he said. “We’ll get fined if I tell the truth but clearly anyone who watched that will see there was a lack of control from the officiating team for most of the game.

“I think the officials will look back at this game and, when they are debriefed, there will be a lot of things they’ll wish they did differently.

“Everyone who was here today knows we were the better side. If they don’t, then they don’t understand the game of football.

“We showed who the stronger group is. We had seven or eight missing today. Oxford are a good side on a good run but they are nowhere near as good as us.

“It would have been a great game of football had it been officiated correctly but it descended into a slightly farcical situation.

“I can’t wait to get our hands back on Oxford again at our place. It’s a team we look forward to playing. We have nothing to fear in this division.”

Bristol Rovers manager Joey Barton tipped striker Jevani Brown to “go from strength to strength” after his first goal for the club sealed a comfortable 3-0 League One victory over 10-man Port Vale at the Memorial Stadium.

Barton praised Brown after his 20-yard goal late on completed a good night’s work for the summer signing from Exeter, who put the Gas on course for victory when he crossed for Luke McCormick to head the hosts into a 25-minute lead.

Vale defender Jesse Debrah was sent off after 38 minutes for a second bookable offence before right-back Jack Hunt popped up in first-half stoppage-time to double the lead and then Brown capped a fine personal show in style, four minutes from time.

Barton said: “Jevani’s a quality operator and that goal was important because it will lift a weight off his shoulders and I’m sure that he’ll now go from strength to strength for us.

“It was his best performance in the blue and white quarters and a lovely top-binner like that right in front of our most vociferous fans will certainly settle him and endear him to the supporters.

“It was a hell of a ball in for the first goal and everyone in the stadium now knows what a top-notch operator JB is.”

Barton says he is confident Brown will turn Rovers into a formidable attacking force.

He added: “JB’s had to be patient because it takes bit of time to get up to speed but tonight we looked unplayable up front with JB, Aaron Collins and Chris Martin and their pace and link-up play.

“I always knew his goal would come and I’m buzzing for him. We’re lucky to have him at our club. We have had to be streetwise to beat the rat race for him.

“But I know he’ll bear fruit over the next few months amid all the challenges we face this season.”

Vale boss Andy Crosby tipped former Halifax defender Debrah to learn from his sending off.

Crosby said: “Jesse is going to be fantastic for our club. He’s got fantastic attributes and we’ll be there to support him. He’ll learn from this and we’ll back him.”

“The referee has made a decision but I’m not sure (over) the first one, which looked like just a coming-together from the bench.

“As soon as you go down to 10 men, it’s going to be extremely difficult but the referee had a decision to make, the rules have changed in terms of how tackles are interpreted. It was a cheap one.”

Crosby praised his side for their show of resilience in the second half.

Crosby added: “We beat their press numerous times and got into their final third many times but if you don’t track your men into your own box and concede poor goals, you give yourself a big mountain to climb.

“We freshened things up at half-time with four changes to stay in the game and I’m so proud of the players’ reaction because they kept fighting and didn’t go under. We hung in there and defeat is difficult to take.”

Manager Joey Barton saluted Jack Hunt after he set Bristol Rovers on course for a thumping 4-1 win over Wigan with his first goal for the club.

Right-back Hunt later helped seal their biggest League One win of the season with a brilliant assist for John Marquis to round off victory, with Luke Thomas and Aaron Collins also on target.

“Jack was first-class for us today but he has been since he first arrived in August,” Barton said.

“Jack’s performance epitomised his attitude and application since he joined us in the off-season.

“That was there for all to see today and we were miles the better side against a very good team.

“We’re seeing the benefits of the way he looked after himself despite being out of contract after leaving Sheffield Wednesday.

“That was testament to his professionalism and by keeping himself in great shape by ticking over with Harrogate, it means he’s had a tremendous impact since he came to Rovers.

“His performance today was probably his best in a quarters shirt but also he’s setting himself a really high bar and I think we’ve still got a spell of finding out about Jack.

“He’s had a fantastic career and was in and around the Premier League with Crystal Palace but he’s worked really hard and he’s humble so he’s had a huge impact on our team and our culture.”

Thomas put Rovers ahead on 13 minutes with a stylish left-footed finish only for Charlie Wyke to equalise five minutes later with a tap-in.

But when Hunt put Rovers back in command with a smart finish on 26 minutes they never looked back.

Collins scored for the second successive time on League One duty eight minutes after the break when he smashed a shot past past keeper Sam Tickle before Marquis nodded in Hunt’s cross.

Latics boss Shaun Maloney, whose club are still struggling in the relegation zone, added: “I was really disappointed with the first half and we were lucky to go in 2-1 down.

“I say that because we were nowhere near it in terms of real desire without the ball.

“And I have to eradicate that because we have to play every single game as if it means the world to us.

“We could have defended better and but they were better than us in terms of how much they wanted to compete.

“It’s sore when that happens but we’re a young side – but I don’t want to see a team play like we did in the first half. As long as we sprint and work hard I won’t complain.

“Sam Tickle made a mistake (for Hunt’s goal) but that’s football and the first half was the bigger disappointment.”

Joey Barton joked that the food that he eats on Saturday night will taste much better given that his side conjured up a late equaliser at the Memorial Stadium against Lincoln.

Barton explained that he would be going out for dinner to celebrate his 41st birthday following his team’s second home draw in Sky Bet League One this season, and that he will be in a much better mood after Josh Grant headed in Antony Evans’ corner in the fourth minute of stoppage time.

The former Manchester City player can see progression in his Bristol Rovers side after they grabbed a late point, but still remain winless on their own turf.

“We were the side trying to make stuff happen,” said Barton. “Mark’s done a very good job to prepare a side to sit and counter.

“Groundhog Day again and we had to show our learning from recent weeks. While I don’t think we’ve fired on all cylinders today, I thought there was definitely signs of progress there against a disciplined, well-organised Lincoln side that don’t concede many goals.

“A point’s a positive because we were in a losing position. We’ve had a lot of ball and a lot of dominance, but we’ve got to work on the training ground to get even better.”

Barton explained that things might have been easier for his side if Rovers had managed to complete the signing of former striker Jonson Clarke-Harris after a club-record deal was agreed with Peterborough, but failed to be completed before the EFL transfer deadline on Friday.

“It would have been nice to get that spear tip and the final piece of the jigsaw, but you don’t get everything you want in life,” he explained.

“We haven’t managed by seconds to get the deal done and we have to make a solution.”

Lincoln head coach Mark Kennedy praised his side’s fortitude as they came within seconds of grabbing a fourth victory in six league matches.

Captain Adam Jackson opened the scoring in the 53rd minute as the ball fell into his path after goalkeeper Matt Cox parried an Ethan Erhahon shot.

“I’ve seen the possession stats and they don’t bother me because we were one up. We had four or five players on the backline and Reeco [Hackett-Fairchild] was running on fumes,” he said.

“There were some real tired legs out there. I was really worried about the game. Especially playing Blackpool home then Sheffield United away, a Wednesday game and a day less to recover, and then a huge trip down here.

“It was a game I was personally really worried about. It’s a brilliant, brilliant point and it would have been amazing to get three because it was so late in the game, but no complaints.”

Bristol Rovers manager Joey Barton praised the work ethic of Luke McCormick after he came off the bench to score a dramatic late winner in a 2-1 victory at Charlton.

The former midfielder was back on the touchline after serving a three-game stadium ban.

And there were big celebrations on the touchline when McCormick struck in the eighth minute of second-half stoppage time to ensure Barton’s side extended their unbeaten start to the League One campaign.

Scott Sinclair’s close-range finish had put Rovers ahead in the 58th minute only for teenage striker Daniel Kanu to level eight minutes after he was brought on.

But McCormick also provided a major impact after replacing John Marquis in the 89th minute, lashing home after neatly controlling Grant Ward’s pass on his chest.

“It’s like we’ve won more than three points because of the nature of the goal,” said Barton.

“I’m so pleased for Macca. He’s worked really hard and when you do that in this game then you get rewarded with special moments.

“He doesn’t go through the motions in the dying embers of the game. He drives on. It’s a great bit of work by the team, and particularly Grant Ward, to flip it over and pick him out. Macca still had a lot to do. We know what a goalscoring threat he can be in our team.

“We’ve had back-to-back wins here now and that’s against a team who have invested in the summer. I know they’ve got one or two out but they are going to be a candidate for promotion.

“This will be a really tricky place to come over this football calendar. We are still in the evolution stage ourselves.”

While Barton has had his skirmishes with officials it was opposite number Dean Holden who was booked by referee Charles Breakspear.

The Addicks boss was left fuming when Josh Grant was only cautioned for clipping Alfie May after he got in behind the Rovers defence not long before McCormick settled the fixture.

“He is ahead of the last defender when he gets fouled and he is through on goal – simple as that,” said Holden.

“I end up getting another yellow card for saying it is a disgraceful decision.

“We’ve done enough to win the game tonight, there’s no doubt about that. We’ve got to keep working in both boxes – be more clinical in their box and make sure defensively we show a bit more steel and see them attacks off.

“They have come for a point and got a smash and grab, good luck to them.

“We can’t hide away from the fact we’re missing key players. We’re still looking to add to the squad in certain areas – we know the profile of the players we need.

“Large parts of the performance were really good. But who wants to hear that when you’ve lost a home game? It’s for us to pick the bones out of it.

“We need to make sure we’re back ready for the next game and this place (The Valley) doesn’t become negative by any stretch. I have to say the supporters were excellent again. Even after they scored the first goal they kept driving the team.”

Bristol Rovers boss Joey Barton will be absent for the first three matches of next season after being handed a ground ban by the Football Association.

Barton, who has a lengthy rap sheet during his career as a player and manager, has been sanctioned for his behaviour following his side’s 2-1 Sky Bet League One defeat by Sheffield Wednesday in April.

He was unhappy when Rovers had a goal disallowed for offside and was sent to the stands before continuing his protestations after the game.

An independent panel has fined him £3,000 and banned him from entering the stadium for Rovers’ first three games next season.

An FA statement said: “Joey Barton has been given a three-match ground ban and £3,000 fine for the three misconduct breaches that took place after Bristol Rovers’s game against Sheffield Wednesdsay in League One on Tuesday, April 18.

“The manager admitted that his behaviour after being sent off was improper and that he subsequently used abusive, insulting, and improper words towards a match official in both the tunnel and match officials’ changing room.

“An independent regulatory commission imposed his sanctions following a hearing and its written reasons will be published in due course. The three-match ground ban will apply to first-team competitive fixtures next season.”

Barton, 40, took over at the Memorial Stadium in February 2021 and, after winning promotion from League Two in 2021-22, guided Rovers to 17th place this season.

A little over two minutes before the moment that will forever define his career, Manchester City hero Sergio Aguero showed sharpness in the QPR goalmouth that would not have been out of place at Old Trafford.

Old Trafford cricket ground that is, just down the road from City's bitter rivals Manchester United and their home of the same name.

As Edin Dzeko's equaliser from David Silva's right-wing corner bounced back off the netting, Aguero pounced, snaffling it like a short-leg fielder and darting back to the centre circle for City's final tilt at the improbable. It was 2-2, the Premier League title could still be won.

There was certainly nothing wrong with striker Aguero's movement after Joey Barton brazenly tried to dead leg him – one of many surreal and key incidents that fed into a frenzied and famous race against the clock on May 13, 2012.

Ten years on, as a statue of Aguero is revealed, this is a reminder of the special moment that brought City their first top-flight league title in 44 years.

The whole story is now as well-worn as any in football history.

On the cusp of a first top-flight title for 44 years, Robert Mancini's Manchester City faced relegation-threatened QPR on the final day of the season. In their previous 18 Premier League home matches that season, they had won 17 and drawn the other – the most recent of those being a 1-0 win over United that tipped a titanic Mancunian tussle back towards the blue side of town.

City simply needed to match United's result at Sunderland and led 1-0 at the interval thanks to Pablo Zabaleta, only for second-half goals from Djibril Cisse and Jamie Mackie to turn the contest on its head.

It remained 2-1 heading into stoppage time despite QPR operating with 10 men. City youth product Barton was dismissed for tussling with Carlos Tevez and responded to Mike Dean's red card by thumping his knee into Aguero's thigh before aiming a headbutt at Vincent Kompany. Fireworks enthusiast Mario Balotelli poured some petrol on this particular bonfire by confronting the combustible Barton as he stomped towards the tunnel.

Aside from that significant blemish, QPR's discipline was impeccable. Despite ceding 81.3 possession overall and 84.1 per cent during the second half, they only made seven fouls. Stoppages were infrequent as City thrashed and flailed with increasing desperation and diminishing artistry around the opposition penalty area.

Without Barton's meltdown, there is little chance five minutes of stoppage time - or the three minutes and 20 seconds they ultimately required - would have been signalled. It was time City desperately needed and time they could put to good use with their top scorer's fast-twitch fibres bristling.

Barton was not the only QPR man with City connections. His team-mates Shaun Wright-Phillips and Nedum Onuoha had also graduated through Jim Cassell's Platt Lane youth system, while Rangers boss Mark Hughes was Mancini's immediate predecessor, having been axed shortly before Christmas in 2009.

Hughes, of course, also played for United with distinction across two spells, and those loyalties struck a chord as news came through Bolton Wanderers had failed to beat Stoke City, meaning the Londoners were safe irrespective of the outcome at the Etihad Stadium.

"[City] got back on level terms and I always remember, at that point, I knew we were safe because the other result came in," Hughes told the Coaches Voice in 2020.

"I'm thinking, 'I wouldn't mind United winning, if I'm honest'. It's 2-2 and Jay Bothroyd looked over, asking what we wanted them to do [from the restart]. The players understood the [Bolton] game was over and we'd stayed up. We just said kick it as far as you can, right in the corner and the game's over."

Hughes' recollections from that point credit City with a poise they absolutely lacked. Rarely can a team have scored twice in this space of two minutes and – save for a crucial few seconds – played so shambolically.

Bothroyd's hoof found touch and scampering Joe Hart ran out of his goal to take the throw-in. The England goalkeeper almost missed the pitch.

Gael Clichy carried the ball down the flank, only for his attempted cross to turn into a block tackle with Mackie. Samir Nasri's aimless, floated effort that followed did little more than give Clint Hill a ninth successful clearance of the afternoon.

Nasri then excelled himself by shepherding the ball out for a QPR throw-in. Just 40 seconds before that explosion of ecstasy there was fury and anguish in the stands. Aguero watched it all from roughly the QPR penalty spot. Apparently he'd seen quite enough.

Aguero honed his lethal skills playing against bigger boys in Buenos Aires on the neighbourhood potrero – the hard gravel and mud neighbourhood pitches that football purists in Argentina bemoan are a diminishing presence.

"When you play you have to think fast. Who to take on, who not," Aguero said when recalling those days in a 2018 documentary for City's in-house television channel. "You know who is going to play dirty, who isn't.

"You start to realise what you can do on the pitch and what you can't."

Reflecting further in the 2019 book 'Pep's City' by Pol Ballus and Lu Martin, he further explained the proving ground that readied him for Barton and others.

"Getting kicked black and blue was all part of the game," he said. "You held on to the ball any way you could.

"Running with the ball was a whole different concept for us. I'd be up against big, tough boys and I was always the smallest. But I learned how to survive."

Aguero remembered those matches were played for the prize of a peso, which would garner one of his favourite sweet treats, an alfajor or dulce de leche.

As United's players took in full-time and three points at the Stadium of Light, and Nigel de Jong brought the ball forward in Manchester to the soundtrack of QPR celebrations – their fans aware of Bolton's fate – the stakes were somewhat higher.

Vacating his spot in a penalty area already crowded by substitutes Dzeko and Balotelli, along with a marauding Kompany, Aguero took possession from De Jong 30 yards from goal.

He faced up to a compact QPR back four, with the visitors' four midfielders all in his immediate vicinity.

A shuffling touch to his left engineered space outside Shaun Derry, but Aguero needed help. Ideally from someone reliable, given the complete lack of any margin for error.

Balotelli was on the pitch in a Manchester City shirt for the first time in over a month.

Mancini had not trusted his wayward protege since a red card in a 1-0 Easter Sunday defeat at Arsenal left City eight points behind United with six games to play. Tevez represented a far more dependable option.

But with nowhere left to turn, Aguero dared and prayed for Mario to be super.

Introduced in the 76th minute, Balotelli gave the impression he had not just been banished from Premier League arenas, but football pitches altogether since his previous game.

The Italy striker managed to run through seven goal attempts – two on target, five blocked – during a frenzied cameo. It was probably as well Aguero found him with his back to goal, inside the D and grappling with Anton Ferdinand.

"I tried to control the ball and I had a contact from the defender and the ball went a little bit far from my foot," Balotelli told City TV five years on. "I thought in that half second there is maybe going to be a little bit of space for Sergio."

If Balotelli had stayed upright, the likelihood is QPR would have seen through their final piece of dogged tireless defending. In being forced on to his backside for the only assist of his Premier League career, he created opportunity and chaos.

Facing his own goal, Derry had to hurdle a prone Balotelli, while Wright-Phillips' route back to defend was also compromised. With his centre-back partner grounded, Hill held his position square on, while Kompany's haring towards the six-yard box dragged left-back Taye Taiwo with him.

A pocket of space opened up. A spot of turf Balotelli was able to locate from his sedentary position. As limbs flailed around him and a tight defence scattered, Aguero was thinking fast.

Argentina's tradition of tough, uncompromising neighbourhood football goes hand in hand with the mystique and mythology that cloaks the country's national sport.

A playing style grounded in skill and improvisation – La Nuestra, which translates as "our way" – was locked into the collective consciousness during the first half of the 20th century. The pre-eminent football magazine El Grafico, served to deepen this romantic attachment, with depictions of the pibe – literally a kid or urchin, whose rough and ready footballing technique combined street smarts and skill and was something of an archetype. Typically they would dribble in the gambeta style, a description that implies close control, cunning and deceit of opponents.

The idea that the likes of Diego Maradona, Ariel Ortega, Lionel Messi and all those other squat, explosive and technically brilliant attackers from Argentina immersed themselves in the yellowed pages of El Grafico archive is far-fetched, but the style is unquestionably embedded. Think of the amount of barrelling, dribbling goals such players have produced – close control, small pauses and faints as thighs piston their way through defences.

As the walls were closing in on City's title bid, Aguero showed himself to be a proud product of this lineage. When Balotelli began his battle against gravity, he deftly checked his run behind and around Wright-Phillips to open up a path to the penalty area.

Letting the pass roll, he shaped to shoot, drawing a scampering Taiwo, who left his Kompany decoy a little too late to remain in control. Aguero did not actually touch Balotelli's return pass until his body position persuaded a rash slide tackle that he nudged beyond with the outside of his right boot.

With Taiwo suitably gambeta'd, there came one last stroke of fortune.

"I touched it again and saw I was close to the goal, so I said 'I'll shoot'. The worst thing was that I wanted to shoot hard across goal and it went to the near post, I don't know what happened," Aguero told TyC Sports – the latter sentiment at least aligning him with every soul inside the Etihad Stadium that day.

"After watching it back, I realised that if I had shot across goal a defender could have blocked it. I celebrated the goal and told everybody, 'I hit it so well!'."

Goal 23 of a personal Premier League tally that reached 184, one of 130 with Aguero's ferocious right boot, understandably left an indelible impression on the suddenly defeated Hughes.

"Of all the games I've been involved in, that noise at that moment when that goal went in is different to anything I've ever heard before or since," Hughes said.

"It was just unbelievable sound – different sound to a football crowd. It was a mixture of screaming and noise. It was just an unbelievable moment."

That racket has since been replayed thousands of times across the world. A goal on a tightrope that altered the course of English football, which began with gifting the opposition a 92nd-minute throw-in and ended thanks to a miscue after the main protagonist's strike partner fell over.

It is the Premier League's most famous goal – a moment as synonymous with Manchester as cotton mills and the Hacienda, and yet Argentinian to its very bones.

Whether 10 years on, 20 years on, or 50 years on, expect to see it replayed another few thousand times. On the blue side of Manchester, it stands as an immortal moment.

Joey Barton had cited Real Madrid's remarkable Champions League fightback against Manchester City as an example to Bristol Rovers before Saturday's promotion decider, but even he might have struggled to imagine the "footballing miracle" that unfolded.

Former City and Newcastle United midfielder Barton led Rovers into their final match of the League Two season outside the automatic promotion places on goal difference and so needing to better Northampton Town's result by five goals.

Still, boss Barton's focus was on what Rovers could achieve against already-relegated Scunthorpe United, rather than worrying about Northampton's result at Barrow.

"If we win 10-0, we're up, aren't we? It is in our hands in that way," he said, adding: "It's very rare you do someone by 10, but who knows?"

As it was, seven would do – tying a club record.

At half-time, Rovers were 2-0 up, but Northampton also led by two, 3-1 in front and coasting towards League One.

Having scored four in the second half of the previous week's sensational 4-3 win at Rochdale, Barton's side this time needed five in the same period.

But the one-time England international was not daunted by the challenge, having pointed to Madrid's turnaround that secured a Champions League final place.

"Madrid thought they were out of the Champions League, then they scored two goals in stoppage time," he had said. "It only takes a second to score a goal."

Rovers certainly did not lack ambition in pursuit of their unlikely aim, attempting 34 shots – the second-most by a team in a single League Two game this season.

Elliot Anderson, the Newcastle loanee dubbed 'the Geordie Maradona' following a comparison from Barton to the late Argentina legend, contributed to 15 of those efforts, taking eight shots himself and creating seven chances.

Following his signing, winger Anderson – who only ended up at Rovers after a Championship loan collapsed – led League Two in shot involvements (133) and ranked second for goal involvements (13).

It was no surprise then that the teenager, having supplied two assists, scored the decisive seventh goal in a 7-0 win while Northampton failed to add to their lead. Even Madrid would surely have been impressed.

"Incredible," Rovers owner Wael al-Qadi told BBC Sport. "It was fantastic to have experienced such a moment.

"The plan was to go for it. I never doubted this bunch of players. They went for it and look what happened. It's a footballing miracle."

Both the owner and Barton had taken to the pitch to plead with Rovers fans to return to the stands and allow the match to finish after Anderson's header.

"I can't describe it," Barton added. "It's probably something when I'm in my rocking chair, and the fact I've headed a lot of balls out at the near post area has caught up with me, I'll remember this favourably with Weetabix running down my chin.

"I'll be thinking of the scenes at the Mem on this day."

Bristol Rovers remarkably clinched promotion from League Two despite needing to make up five goals on Northampton Town on the final day of the season.

Rovers, managed by former Manchester City and Newcastle United midfielder Joey Barton, headed into Saturday's matches fourth in the table, behind third-placed Northampton – in the final automatic promotion place – on goal difference.

Northampton appeared to have done enough to secure a spot in League One as they won 3-1 at Barrow, only for events at the Memorial Stadium to halt their celebrations.

That scoreline at Barrow – unchanged from the 45th minute onwards – meant Rovers needed to win 7-0 against already-relegated Scunthorpe United to pip Northampton on goals scored.

Leading 2-0 at half-time, Aaron Collins and Antony Evans each scored twice against a much-changed Scunthorpe side before Elliot Anderson – on loan from Newcastle – added to his two assists with the decisive seventh five minutes from time.

That goal – the 19-year-old's seventh of a sensational loan spell, to go with six assists – prompted a pitch invasion that brought the game to a standstill.

As Northampton got word of the change in circumstances and chased a fourth goal, succeeding only in having goalkeeper Liam Roberts sent off, Barton and Rovers owner Wael al-Qadi pleaded with fans to stay off the pitch, having been warned the match could be abandoned.

Eventually, play resumed and Rovers held on for their joint-record margin of victory and a scarcely believable promotion to the third tier.