Newton's Law

I was just reading the Guardian Sport in the gym. As a reporter bemoaned the lack of quality on show in the Watford-Bolton game, he said "It was only the influence of Newton that kept the ball in the same parish as Vicarage Road". This threw me. Did Watford sign Shaun Newton without me realising ? Have Bolton introduced a kid called Newton from the youth team who shows a touch of class ? A quick check of the team line-ups and four re-reads of the relevant paragraph later, I realised he meant Isaac Newton. Had it not been for gravity, the ball would have found its way into orbit, although you could probably say that about most games. Er, no, you can't orbit without gravity, you would just zoom off into space. It's an amusing concept. Imagine a Ronaldo dive in zero G. All in all though, the day a football report thoroughly confuses me by being too highbrow and scientific, that's the day I worry that I'm losing it.