Football’s Greatest Hat-Tricks No.6
This week’s ‘Greatest Hat-Trick’ comes from Matt Le Tissier for Southampton at home to Norwich on 27th February 1990.
LeTissier was best known for his great skill and the wonderful goals that he scored for Southampton over the course of his career. The South Coast side was the only club that he ever played for, despite interest from bigger clubs.
Another thing that the Southampton forward is known for is his incredible penalty scoring record. He scored 47 penalties in his sixteen years at Southampton and only missed one, which was saved by Nottingham Forest’s Mark Crossley.
I found this hat-trick when trawling through YouTube. The first goal was a poacher’s effort, blasted in from close range but the second and third were fantastic finishes. Goals scored over the course of the 29 years of the Premier League are shown over and over again on Sky, but they have seldom shown any scored before 1992. This is another reason why this hat-trick has to feature in this series.
Matt Le Tissier scored 20 goals in 35 league outings in the 1989/90 season. He was prolific in front of goal in the early ’90s, scoring 109 league goals in five seasons. Incredibly, he was often overlooked by England managers and only won eight caps in his career.
In the 4-1 victory over Norwich, Le Tissier’s first came after a high cross in from the left wing; Alan Shearer and then Rod Wallace nodded the ball forward and Le Tissier was able to fend off a defender and rifle the ball past Bryan Gunn in the Norwich goal.
His second was a fantastic individual effort that showed great skill, pace and close control. Le Tissier had his back turned to goal and was just inside the Norwich half when his team mate Russell Osman laid a pass to his feet.
He ran forward, took the ball past two opponents and hit a low swerving shot across Gunn into the far corner of the net from 20 yards out.
The third goal was a beautiful chip from distance. After being set free down the left wing, Le Tissier cut inside the Norwich right back and was suddenly clean through on goal. Bryan Gunn came rushing out of his goal and got as far as the edge of the box before the ball was lobbed over his head and into the back of the net.
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