25 years on: Gary's debut strike

It was 25 years ago today that Gary Ablett marked his senior home debut by scoring his first and only goal for Liverpool. Ablett was a special player whose modesty and sincerity allowed him to transcend an intense city rivalry to play for both Liverpool and Everton while retaining the respect of both sets of fans. He died during the night of January 1, 2012 after a 16-month battle with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Gary was remembered on Saturday afternoon when his two former clubs made the journey to Wembley for the semi-finals of a competition he won with both Merseyside teams - a feat which, to this day, makes the full-back unique as a player. Aigburth-born Ablett started out his career as a Liverpool trainee and made his debut in a goalless draw against Charlton at Selhurst Park in December 1986. On April 18, 1987 he was given his first chance to shine at Anfield against Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest and the 21-year-old set the place alight. As a report from The Times that day testifies, Gary was the stand-out player for the Reds by some distance. "It was somewhat ironic that Forest should have gone so close to a genuine hiding because in John Metgod, their Dutch midfield player with the vision of a dozen lesser men, they had arguably the game's most influential player," read the report. "His only rival in the excellence stakes was Ablett, the Liverpool defender who was making his senior home debut. "For one so young, Ablett produced a quite memorable display. He carried out his defensive duties with elegant poise and underlined his rich potential by scoring Liverpool's third goal after 68 minutes with a quite delightful volley." League champions Liverpool were leading 2-0 when Ian Rush brought down a fine 30-yard pass and flicked it over his shoulder into the danger area. Before the advancing Ronnie Whelan could get there a Forest defender intervened but his attempted clearance went straight to where Ablett was poised to lash the ball left-footed past Steve Sutton for 3-0. Ablett had earlier laid-on the Reds second six minutes after the re-start when he steered a 'well-directed' cross into the path of Whelan. It proved to be Ablett's only goal in seven seasons and 147 games for the club. However, the industrious full-back will always be remembered for his calm style of defending and his ability to slot seamlessly into one of the finest Liverpool sides in the history of the club than for his contribution in the goalscoring stakes.