Thirty years have passed since David Beckham launched himself into football immortality with a audacious lob from inside his own half — and the goalkeeper on the wrong end of it still remembers every moment.

On August 17, 1996, a 21-year-old Beckham collected the ball deep in Manchester United's own territory at Selhurst Park, with his side already 2-0 ahead. What followed was a shot from 57 yards that arced over a helpless Neil Sullivan and settled in the back of the net, leaving the Wimbledon goalkeeper crumpled against the netting as United supporters roared behind the goal.

"That's going to be close"

Sullivan, speaking to FourFourTwo ahead of the World Cup via betFIRST, describes how the moment unfolded from his perspective. "At the time it was just a normal game," he says. "We were 2-0 down going into the last couple of minutes. He hit it and it kind of moved in the air quite a lot."

"I didn't quite change my feet around properly and, as soon as he hits it, you think, 'That's going to be close'," Sullivan continues. "When it went in, I was kind of hanging onto the net, looking up, and all the Man United fans were behind the goal. I was getting pelters from the stands."

His immediate response was a mixture of disbelief and grudging admiration. "I just had a little smile and a chuckle to myself, and that was it, really," he recalls. "Then you don't really think much of it."

Waking up to history

It was only the following morning that the full magnitude of the moment became clear — in an era long before social media could spread a clip around the globe within seconds. "You wake up the next day — obviously no social media back then, no nothing," Sullivan says. "You pick up a newspaper and it's all over the back pages. You think, 'Wow, that's quite special.' And yeah — you're kind of inadvertently a part of Premier League history."

Remarkably, Sullivan is not even convinced Beckham's effort was the finest goal he conceded. He also found himself in the firing line for Paolo Di Canio's celebrated scissor kick for West Ham United against Wimbledon in 2000. "So, yeah, it's nice to be remembered for something, I guess," he adds with characteristic good humour.