A RECENT national poll conducted in association with a well-known football magazine identified Tranmere's 5-1 mauling of Coventry in this season's Worthington Cup as one of the top twenty greatest football matches of the last century. Now I'm sure this was a great game to watch, especially if you were a Rovers fan, but it does highlight rather starkly some of the pitfalls of such surveys. People's memories tend to be short, and their choices are quite often related to the team that they support and watch.

This is only natural, and indeed the variety of supporters experiences and opinions greatly contributes to football's appeal as 'The People's Game'. It also emphasises the different criteria for selecting one's greatest ever match or goal. It may be the importance of the match or goal that makes it so special, it may be some personal experience that makes a match so special, or it may simply be the quality of the goal or game that wins the vote. And all are valid reasons for making such a choice.

My own choices, for example, would be largely based around Liverpool, the team that I watch and support, and which contributes to my general mood from one week to the next far more than it really should. They should also be based around England for similar reasons, but I can't really remember many great goals or matches that I have witnessed, that don't fall into the glorious failure category.

For pure experience, I would choose the 1984 European Cup Final when Liverpool beat AS Roma on their own ground on penalties - a tremendous feat but a dire and tedious game of football. In contrast I remember an FA Cup tie at Anfield in the early eighties that Liverpool lost 2-1 to Brighton. For atmosphere, excitement and pure cup tie adrenaline, I have never personally experienced better, but it is not exactly Liverpool's greatest ever result.

Of course there are plenty of games that I have not seen that would rank higher with most Liverpool fans, the 1965 European Cup semi-final when Liverpool beat Internationale 3-1 at Anfield, the 1977 St Etienne match, and of course the first time we won the European Cup in Rome in 1977. There was also a 5-0 drubbing of Nottingham Forest at Anfield in 1988 that Tom Finney described as the best performance by a football team that he had ever witnessed. But such a breath-taking display by one side does not provide the excitement of a close encounter.

The best Liverpool goal I have ever seen (on the telly) was Terry McDermott's far post header against Spurs in 1978, a flowing five man move that went from one end of the field to the other, and captured the very essence of the way Liverpool play. But probably my favourite goal ever is Glenn Hoddle's sublime lob for Spurs against Watford back in the eighties. Receiving a throw-in he flicked the ball through his own legs, and executed the most perfect of chips that left the keeper flapping helplessly. Absolute perfection to my mind!

Outside of Liverpool, many people in the game quote Hungary's 6-3 drubbing of England at Wembley in 1953 as a stunning eye-opener for the complacent English as to how the game could be played. And many an old football hack will talk wistfully of the 1960 European Cup Final at Hampden Park, when Real Madrid thrashed Eintracht Frankfurt by seven goals to three, with Alfredo Di Stefano scoring three and Ferenc Puskas scoring four. All great or important matches in their own way, but none of which were mentioned by you, the voters.

And this is what makes such a survey so interesting, at least with a readership as eclectic as that provided by the players and supporters of Logica FC. A wide range of fascinating choices were made for many different reasons, but one match and one goal within that match kept popping up time and again. The 1970 World Cup Final between Brazil and Italy, and of course the marvellous fourth goal from Carlos Alberto. The match and the goal sum up the awe-inspiring performances of the Brazilians down the years, the technical brilliance and flamboyant skills, and the huge enjoyment that they have provided for us all. Without doubt, this was the most popular vote in the Logica FC survey, as indeed it tends to be in many such surveys. And who can argue?

Outside of this, few matches or goals received more than an individual vote. England's surprising 4-1 victory over Holland in Euro96 received a couple of nods that confirm it as one of the rare highlights of recent English footballing memories. Gazza's goal against Scotland in the same competition also got a mention, and few would argue that this was not a stunning individual effort. In a similar vein, the 1966 England v Germany World Cup Final received a handful of votes, although few (even amongst the Lags) would have been old enough to appreciate the significance of the match at the time.

There were quite a few other international goals that popped up. Johnny Barnes' superb individual run in the Maracana in 1984 surprisingly only received one vote. Equally surprising was a solitary vote for Archie Gemmill's equally skilful effort against Holland in 1978. Kenny Dalglish's own personal favourite, a brilliant curling strike against Belgium for Scotland, received a vote (not from Kenny I should clarify), as, more predictably, did St Michael of Owen's effort against Argentina in St Etienne in the last World Cup. Maradona's solo effort against England in 1986 also received a vote, surprisingly from an Englishman rather than a Scotsman.

Further afield, one reader identified Italy's 3-2 victory over Brazil as his greatest game ever, and few can forget Paulo Rossi's stunning hat-trick against the tournament favourites in the 1982 World Cup. Marco Tardelli's goal against West Germany in that year's final also received a vote.

As befits the first British club to win the European Cup, Celtic received a selection of votes. One reader identified their 2-1 victory over Internationale of Milan in 1967 as the best match ever, as well as declaring Tommy Gemmell's goal in that match the greatest. Another reader remembers Celtic's incredible 5-4 victory against Partizan Belgrade, when "Dzakenowski scored four goals but still ended up on the losing side". In contrast, another reader picks a Davie Cooper goal for Rangers against Celtic as his favourite ever goal, and the Ger's 1983 Skol Cup Final victory over their arch-rivals as the greatest match.

Surprisingly nobody mentioned Manchester United's European Cup triumph in 1968, although their 1999 victory over Bayern Munich did receive a vote. There were a number of people, however, who remember another English team's European triumphs. Nottingham Forest received a nomination for the superb achievement that was their European Cup final victory against Hamburg in 1979, whilst two more obscure Forest goals also received commendation. Stan Collymore's strike against Peterborough and Tommy Gaynor's dramatic diving header against Huddersfield Town in a 1989 League Cup tie were both apparently worthy of the title of 'Greatest Goal Ever'.

As one would expect, Cup football is prevalent in people's choices for great games, and the magic of the FA Cup provides plenty of memories. Arsenal's last-gasp 3-2 victory over Manchester United in 1979 gets a vote, as does Liverpool's 1986 final triumph in the first all-Merseyside final. Whilst many semi-final's are nervous and drab affairs, two such matches get a mention. The 3-3 draw between Middlesbrough and Chesterfield in 1997 captured one reader's imagination, whilst less surprisingly, Ryan Giggs' spawner against Arsenal in last season's semi-final receives a nomination as 'Goal of the Millennium'.

Elsewhere, Georgie Best gets a solitary mention for his brilliant individual goal in an early seventies' Cup tie against Northampton Town. Surprisingly, no mention of his famous chip against Spurs, or his fantastic goal against Benfica in 1965 that resulted in him being dubbed 'El Beatle'. No mention of Charlton or Law either.

Other choices for the greatest match include Liverpool's exciting 4-3 victory against Newcastle at Anfield in 1996, when Collymore scored in the last minute to secure victory. Newcastle's equally memorable 5-0 drubbing of Manchester United a year later also gets an enthusiastic vote from one punter, who "had £50 a goal on Newcastle".

Kenny Dalglish's vital volleyed goal against Chelsea in 1986 to earn the reds their one and only Double received a vote, but two final selections for 'Goal of the Millennium' perhaps underline the vast range of experience on display from the "If Selected..." readership. A John Hendrie goal for Middlesbrough against Millwall receives one impassioned nomination, as does a Paul Butler stunner for York City against Wigan.

Perhaps just as interesting as the choices made, are those goals or matches that didn't get a mention. Pele did not get a single mention, apart from his obviously less-than-minor contribution to Brazil's 1970 victory. Nor did Johan Cruyff, or Franz Beckenbauer. Those three scored a few half-decent goals in their time. No mention of Holland's great team of the 1970's, or Real Madrid in the 50's or 60's.

More recently AC Milan and Juventus have ruled Europe, but no votes for either, not even the former's fantastic 4-0 devastation of Barcelona in the 1994 European Cup Final. One also remembers George Weah's incredible individual goal when he ran from his own penalty area to score for AC Milan. Another Milan great, Marco van Basten, scored some spectacular goals in his time, not least his stunning volley against Russia in the 1988 European Championship Final.

Of course, the list is endless, and there are hundreds and thousands of goals and matches that deserve a mention. In the end it seems that a vote for the greatest match or goal is not really the point. Rather it is just an excuse to remember some of the fantastic moments that makes football the greatest game in the world.