WHAT have Ray Parlour, Alan Smith and Arca of Sunderland got in common?

They have all been denied either probable or certain goals in the past week by football's governing bodies.

The three players all had shots which came down off the crossbar, apparently crossed the line and bounced back into play without a goal being given.

Smith's came in England's Under-21 game in Finland, Parlour's for the full national side 24 hours later while Arca thought he had scored in Sunderland's Premiership clash with Chelsea at the weekend.

The proliferation of did-it-cross-the-line/did-it-not instances only serves to strengthen the argument for a fifth official in the stands with a TV and the responsibility to instruct the referee on whether a goal should be given.

The 'eye in the stand' could be summoned by the referee to make decisions on incidents the referee either has not seen or is not sure about.

It is in operation in both cricket and rugby league with huge success but, for some reason, soccer is dragging its feet on bringing it into the game.

At the Reebok on Tuesday night everyone in the stadium except referee Steve Lodge saw Wanderers striker Michael Ricketts have his shirt practically pulled off his back and dragged to the ground in the penalty area. Lodge waved play-on; if he had had the option of the third eye in the stand it would undoubtedly have resulted in a penalty to Wanderers and the great likelihood of two extra points.

Wanderers have been one of the biggest losers in football's reluctance to adopt the idea. In their first home match at the Reebok against Everton Gerry Taggart had a header which was later proved to have been well over the line only for the referee on the night of that goalless draw - ironically one Steve Lodge - to wave play-on.

That decision cost Wanderers two points and quite probably cost them their Premiership place as at the end of the season they were relegated on level points with Everton.

Critics of the proposal claim it would cause too many delays during games. But that is not the case in rugby league and when you consider it would take about 30 seconds to make a decision - which is about as long as it takes to book a player or make a substitution - it would be worth the wait.