There are all sorts of words and phrases used in the world of association football that have their own sense and meaning. Some of them can seem to be entirely indecipherable from the outside looking in, whilst others are ones that seem to make sense in a totally intuitive manner.
There is a strong argument that ‘against the run of play’ fits into the latter category, but it is still worth explaining thanks to the fact that it can also be interpreted in more than one way.
This is a section looking at some of the game’s most easily misunderstood phrases, which is why it’s only right to look at it.
The Meaning of the Phrase
You might well find yourself listening to a match on the radio or watching one on the television and hear either the commentator or pundit declare that a goal had been scored ‘against the run of play’. If it’s scored by your team then you won’t care, whilst if it goes against the side that you support then you might feel angry about the manner in which your chosen team has conceded.
In its simplest interpretation, it means that one team was dominating the game and looked the most likely to score, only for the team on the other side to score the opening goal of the game.
Against the run of play, Tom Cannon ALMOST equalises for the Blades just before the break 😅 pic.twitter.com/dAB6bguATR
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) August 13, 2025
The ‘run of play’ is a reference to the manner in which the game appeared to be playing out. If the more dominant team had scored then you would almost certainly hear someone declare that it had ‘been coming’. It is when you watch a match and find yourself convinced that one team is going to score yet see the opposition side finding the back of the net that something will have been done ‘against the run of play’.
Anyone who has watched football for any length of time will know that it is not a sport that follows the rules and logical constructions that we might expect from life, which is why this sort of thing can happen.
Winning Against the Run of Play
The same notion of scoring a goal against the run of play can also apply to winning a match overall.
A good example of this took place in the 2024-2025 season when Liverpool travelled to the French capital in order to play against Paris Saint-Germain. The Parisian side had 27 shots, of which ten were on target. Liverpool, meanwhile, had two shots, only one of which was on target. Liverpool left the Parc des Princes with a 1-0 win. It was the definition of a match that ended ‘against the run of play’, with the goal also being one that met that description for the Reds.
By the end of the game, PSG had had 52 touches in the opposition box, whilst their Merseyside opposition had just 13. Similarly, the hosts had 14 corners compared to just the pair that Liverpool managed. In the end, though, it was Paris Saint-Germain that had the last laugh, winning 1-0 at Anfield before making it through the next round courtesy of a penalty shootout, going on to win the Champions League that season.
The win in Paris by Liverpool, though, was very much one that came against the run of play, with no one inside the stadium that night or watching at home feeling that they deserved it.