This is an auspicious date for last-minute winners. 15 years ago, the 1999 Champions League final ended in immortal fashion. There's no need to revisit "that night in Barcelona" in great detail here - we've done so already in recent days. Ten years before Sheringham and Solksjaer sent Clive Tyldesley and millions of other into ecstasy, the old First division Championship came down to the last minute of the final night of the season.
Arsenal needed a 2-0 win at Anfield to prevent Kenny Dalglish's side from securing an then-unprecedented second double, while Liverpool had already wrapped up the FA Cup with an emotion-laden victory over Everton in the aftermath of the Hillsborough disaster. They were on a 24-game unbeaten run which left them three points clear of the Gunners, who were coming into the game off the back of a draw with Wimbledon at Highbury. Fixture disruption following the tragedy meant that the title decider took place on a Friday night, after the Wembley showpiece had taken place.
One has to consider just how iron-clad Liverpool's confidence was going into this game. Cup champions six weeks after the most awful day in the club's history, it was never going to be a straightforward victory procession for the Reds but Arsenal hadn't won at Anfield in 15 years. Of course, things turned out the exact opposite of Dalglish's charges expectations: Alan Smith netted first on 52 minutes, before Michael Thomas lifted one over Bruce Grobelaar at the death after a sustained onslaught by Liverpool - on their own goal as much as Arsenal's. The victory was enough to give Arsenal the title on goals scored - both sides finished with a goal difference of +37 and 76 points (two points for a win). Michael Thomas himself would of course go on to play for Liverpool. Signing during the reign of Graeme Souness in 1991, the midfielder stayed at Anfield until 1998.
Taking place a couple of years before Sky took live league football off terrestrial screens, the game was by coloured by the immortal tones of ITV's Brian Moore.
As you can imagine, Thomas' goal sent the Arsenal half of North London into a frenzy of celebration, in scenes far eclipsing this year's FA Cup jubilation which was pretty excessive in its own right.
The 1989 outpouring was best portrayed by Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch. Like most examples, the book was better than the movie and it also played a part in the relative gentrification of football in lead-up to Euro '96. Football was no longer an activity to be feared and demonised by opportunistic politicians - with the arrival of Taylor Report-sanctioned all-seater stadiums, family stands and better stewarding, the profile of the game was rehabilitated as Sky came on the scene.
Since we're speaking of footballing anniversaries, Aston Villa fans will be disappointed if no mention is made of their victorious 1981-82 European Cup campaign, which was also secured on this date. It might not have been a last-gasp winner that sealed it, but it was won the year after the Lions' last major achievement, all done under the command of the famously unsmiling Ron Saunders.
One of just 14 players used by Saunders during that league campaign was the late Éamonn "Chick" Deacy, the tenacious fullback after whom Galway FC's Terryland Park has been renamed.
