Sport is a funny old drug. You keep coming back despite the knocks, knowing that one day, just one day, you'll get that Cup final victory - you might be 50 by the time it happens, but you'll be there, enjoying it more for the fact that you've been through 49 semi-final defeats and 490 heart-breaking moments. Here are my Top 5 so far...



5. Liverpool beat Everton in 1989: There was 1986, which was bad, but 1989 hurt more because we really should have beaten Liverpool that day. Ian Rush, who else, was the man who scored the goals that beat us, after Stuart McCall had provided all Evertonians with a moment to savour for the rest of our lives - that last minute equaliser compounded the heart-break by letting us feel that we really could have won this Cup Final. At 1-0, it would have hurt, but knowing that we were in the ascendancy, that made it worse. And from 1989 onwards, Everton got worse - and they're only just recovering now. That was heartbreaking.

4. Australia hold out for a draw at Old Trafford: My own personal story around this 2005 Ashes match revolves around my trip back to Paris where I was living at the time. I had been following the series in England, and my flight back was on the 5th day at 7pm. We didn't believe it would go the distance, and we were wrong. A combination of TV, then radio, then the TV in Wetherspoons at John Lennon Airport relayed the day as it unfolded - and it looked like Ponting would hold us at bay. And then he went - late on in the day. One by one, the wickets fell - but the Aussies held out with just one wicket left. I managed to catch the last over as I had gone through security - a handful of Aussies were celebrating, and I realised that we could actually win the Ashes. After all, when is the last time they celebrated getting a draw?

3. Jimmy White throws it all away in 1994: The previous year, Jimmy White had led by 14-8 over Stephen Hendry, and managed to throw it away horribly. This time, with the scores tied at 17-17, he had a chance to seal it and blundered badly. Hendry got up and polished him off professionally, but watching Jimmy White sit there watching Stephen Hendry was heart-breaking. The Whirlwind would never win the world title, and never will - and 1994 was the final nail in that coffin.

2. Red Rum catches Crisp: Now this was before I was born, but I've seen it so many times and it still moves me. The Australian horse Crisp was a mile ahead in the Grand National and coasting - nothing and no one could possibly have caught it. But as the jockey looked around, one horse was gradually catching him - Red Rum. It was the greatest horse race I've ever seen - Red Rum continually catching Crisp, inch by inch, yard by yard - getting closer and closer until he finally caught him. Watching Crisp agonisingly accept his fate gets harder every time I watch this amazing race.

1. England can't take penalties: I've started to lose count of the number of penalty shoot-outs that England have fluffed, but 1990 and 1996 are the two that will always stand out in most peoples' minds. 1990 was the year that we really should have won the World Cup, as that was a cracking England side all the way through. 1996 was the year that we really should have won the European Championship as they had a side bang in form - but once more, it was the fact that we don't have the bottle and we don't have the skill to take penalties. And the Germans have got both. Oh dear.

So those are my top 5 heart-breaking moments in Sport. What are yours?