Anatomy of an own goal: Romaine Sawyers' splendid effort against Leeds

You can just imagine Sam Allardyce in the home dressing room before the match.

"Right lads, that was perfect at Anfield at the weekend. Absolutely perfect. We kept it tight, we gave them nothing, and it got us a point. I want more of the same here.

"It's Leeds we're playing this time, so we've got a chance, as long as there's no early disasters."

It wasn't quite Santiago Vergini thumping in a half volley from the edge of the area against Southampton, but it wasn't a million miles from it.

It really is a mystery what was going through Romaine Sawyers' mind when he picked the ball up in a fairly innocuous position with eight minutes on the clock. He was under pressure, as you would expect to be against Leeds, but just lay off a simple ball to a team-mate.

Or if you have to, put it out of play.

Turning round and thumping the ball back to the keeper, when you have no idea where he actually is, should be the last thing on your mind.

Especially when you're in a relegation dog-fight, and up against a team who don't tend to do half-measures.

Yet that's what he did, and gave us all a moment to remember in the process.

It's a shame for the midfielder but you open yourself to ridicule when you score any own-goal - let alone an own-goal as spectacular as this one. He hits the ball with so much pace that his keeper, standing a good three yards away from where the ball ends up, barely even gets the chance to react before it's in the back of the net.

Equally, however, it seems to pass him in slow motion. It really should've been impossible to find the back of the net at all, let alone on the half turn. Yet he sends it across the face of goal, and none of his team-mates - or his opponents - can believe what they've just seen.

Some of the great own-goals in Premier League history have been strokes of bad luck. James Collins' looping header over Rob Green, Vincent Kompany's sitcom miscue against Fulham, Gareth Bale's accidental collision with Aaron Lennon's clearance.

But there was little unfortunate about this - just pure, inexplainable, wonderfully executed lunacy that will live long in the memory.

It's perhaps most comparable to Frank Sinclair's iconic lapse of judgement against Middlesbrough in 2002-03. Under very little pressure, he also forgot to check where his keeper was standing before hoofing the ball backwards beyond the scrambling gloves of Leicester stopper Ian Walker.

Joking aside, it's the kind of thing that does happen every now and then. You just need to pick yourself up and make sure it doesn't open the floodgates for an absolute thumping.

Oh.