WINNER: Manchester United's American goalkeeper TIM HOWARD lost his starting job by giving up some soft goals but none came close to the howler his replacement, Roy Carroll, let in during Tuesday's game against Tottenham, which means Man U boss Alex Ferguson must be considering a Howard return. In a Nov. 23 Champions League game, Carroll had allowed a 35-yard shot that came right to him to spill into the goal.
LOSERS: Tottenham's Pedro Menes launched a 55-yard shot that ROY CARROLL failed to catch, instead letting it bounce off his shoulder. The ball flew about a yard into the goal before Carroll pulled it out. Linesman ROB LEWIS didn't notice the obvious goal and ref MARK CLATTENBURG let play continue. The gamed ended, 0-0.
WINNERS: The ADVOCATES of using goal judges, video replays or electronic technology to determine whether a ball has crossed the line have even more ammunition for their case. A microchip will be placed into the ball during the English League Cup final to test electronic goal-judging technology, but TV cameras were all that were needed at Old Trafford.
LOSER: Had justice been served, PEDRO MENES would be celebrating his second goal of the season. But the Portuguese midfielder took the incident in stride: "It's really, really over. What can you do but laugh about it? It's a nice goal and one to keep in my memory even though it didn't count. It's not every game you score from the halfway line."
WINNERS: British bookmaker William Hill will pay GAMBLERS who took 20-1 odds that Mendes would score the game's first goal or 11-2 odds that he would score at all, even though his goal didn't count.. "We have decided to pay out to — the admittedly few — customers who would have definitely been on a winner had the goal been given as it quite obviously should have been," said Hill spokesman Graham Sharpe. Ladbrokes, Britain's biggest bookmaker, has refused to give bettors a break while Irish bookmaker Paddy Power will refund all losing bets on Tottenham to win and is offering odds of 7-2 that a video referee is used in the 2005 FA Cup final.