Frank Lampard scored 300th goal after being honored for his 300 goals

Frank Lampard received a ring, commemorative jersey and mayoral proclamation celebrating his 300 career goals. Later that evening, he scored his 300th and 301st career goals. Oops.

New York City FC, New York mayor Bill de Blasio and Major League Soccer teamed up on Thursday to celebrate another milestone for Chelsea legend Frank Lampard. Lampard had recently scored his 11th goal of the season for New York City FC. This brought him to 300 career goals, spanning the Premier League, the England national team and now Major League Soccer.

Just one problem. It was actually his 299th goal, as some exceptional research by the SkySports team has revealed.

In 1999, Lampard was a 20 year old playing at the same club as his father had, West Ham United. Lampard scored in a League Cup quarter-final match against Aston Villa. The match went to a shoot-out, and Lampard’s teammate Emanuel Omoyinmi took a penalty shot for the Hammers.

Unfortunately, Omoyinmi was cup-tied and was ineligible to have any part in West Ham’s League Cup campaign. Omoyinmi spent the early part of the season on loan to Gillingham, where he played in earlier rounds of the competition. As a result, West Ham manager Harry Redknapp should have kept him off the bench, and most definitely should not have brought him on as an extra-time substitute.

The following day, the Football League declared the match void. Rather than dismiss West Ham from the tournament, they accepted Redknapp’s excuse that he did not know Omoyinmi was ineligible. The Football League scheduled a replay for the next month. Lampard scored West Ham’s only goal in a 3-1 loss in the replay.

Lampard’s goal in the first match should have been purged from his stats sheet after the Football League nullified the game. However, when New York City FC tallied Lampard’s career scoring, they included both of his goals – one valid, one void – from the League Cup against Aston Villa.

Before the night was out, though, Lampard made amends to the historical record. Lampard scored his actual 300th goal to give NYCFC a 2-1 lead in the 85th minute against DC United. Five minutes later, DC United retook the lead. Leaving no doubt about his quantitative or qualitative greatness, Lampard struck again in the 93rd minute to earn the win for New York City FC.

Frank Lampard is currently second behind David Villa as NYCFC’s leading scorer. Lampard is also the second-highest scoring midfielder in Major League Soccer, with 3 fewer goals on nearly half the playing time as Ignacio Piatti.

At this rate, Lampard will write himself into NYCFC’s and MLS’s history books as indelibly as he has across England. With no signs of slowing down his offensive output, his 211 Chelsea goals may end up accounting for only half of his final total.

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