Darren Bent's 'beach ball goal': The Chase contestant's iconic answer to question in 2015

Darren Bent’s infamous ‘beach ball goal’ is the strangest to ever grace the Premier League.

While there have undoubtedly been some weird and wonderful strikes in England’s top-flight before and since the 1992 rebranding, it’s pretty tough to look past Bent’s effort from 2009.

In what proved to be a memorable victory for Sunderland over Liverpool, the deciding goal at the Stadium of Light remarkably took a deflection off an inflatable seaside item before rippling the back of the net.

Amusingly, the Liverpool-branded beach ball had made its way on to the pitch courtesy of an away supporter with the wind eventually blowing it into the penalty area and causing havoc for their team.

With one scuffed swing of Bent’s right boot, the ball pinged off its inflatable counterpart and into the back of the net with Pepe Reina not knowing whether he was coming or going.

And while the goal should technically have been disallowed due to exterior interference, surely we’re all glad that it was never chalked off because it remains one of the Premier League‘s funniest ever moments?

Besides, if nothing else, the whole episode will forever make for the perfect pub quiz question with each passing year making the sheer premise of a ‘beach ball goal’ seem all the more hysterical.

However, arguably even more hilarious than the goal itself was its appearance on the popular ITV quiz show ‘The Chase’ in 2015 when it cropped up as a question – and in side-splitting style to boot.

During the head-to-head round against professional quizzer Shaun Wallace, contestant Emma was asked: “In 2009, Sunderland scored against Liverpool when the football deflected in off what object?”

Her options were A. Beach ball, B. Ice cream van and C. Sunbathing German,