Neil Sullivan found himself on the wrong side of one of the Premier League’s most unforgettable moments, thirty years ago this summer.

That August afternoon at Selhurst Park in 1996 became a turning point for a young Manchester United winger. On August 17, 1996, with United already leading 2-0, a 21-year-old David Beckham collected the ball deep inside his own half and decided to take an audacious shot.

From 57 yards out, Beckham’s strike stunned everyone inside the stadium. Wimbledon’s goalkeeper Neil Sullivan could only watch in disbelief as the ball soared over him and into the net, leaving him tangled in his own goal.

Three decades on, Sullivan looks back on that remarkable moment and the frenzy that followed it.

“At the time, it just felt like any other match,” Sullivan recalled in an exclusive chat with FourFourTwo ahead of the World Cup through betFIRST. “We were trailing 2-0 with only a couple of minutes remaining. He hit it, and the ball moved quite a lot in the air.”

“I didn’t quite get my feet sorted properly and as soon as he struck it, I thought, ‘That’s going to be close’. When it went in, I was holding onto the net, looking up, and the Manchester United fans behind the goal were giving me a hard time,” he laughed.

Sullivan admitted that his first reaction was a mix of disbelief and admiration for Beckham’s boldness. He could not have imagined, however, that the goal would become one of the most iconic moments in Premier League history.

“I just smiled and chuckled to myself, and that was that,” he said. “You don’t think much of it at the time.”

“The next morning – remember, there was no social media back then – you pick up the newspaper and it’s splashed across every back page. You think, ‘Wow, that’s actually quite something’. And just like that, you’ve become part of Premier League folklore without even realising it.”

Interestingly, Sullivan isn’t convinced that Beckham’s wonder goal was the best he ever conceded.

“There’s that one, of course, but also Paolo Di Canio’s goal – I was in goal for that as well,” he said, referring to the West Ham legend’s famous scissor-kick strike against Wimbledon in 2000. “So yes, it’s nice to be remembered for something, I suppose.”