Clive Mendonca, a former star of Charlton Athletic, still has an unbeatable record.
After paying a then-club record £700,000 to join the Addicks from Grimsby Town in the summer of 1997, the striker went on to score an astounding 45 goals in 96 games. A center-forward who consistently scores goals will always be appreciated by supporters, but Mendonca is a true fan favourite because of his ability to score goals, which helped Charlton achieve promotion to the Premier League in 1998.
During the Addicks’ 1997–98 promotion-winning season, Mendonca scored 28 goals, including a hat-trick in the play-off final against Sunderland, his boyhood club. After extra time, the score was 4-4, and Mendonca’s penalty in the shootout helped Alan Curbishley’s team advance to the top division. On the first day of the next season, he scored a hat-trick in the Premier League during a 5-0 victory over Southampton, but his three goals at Wembley in what was arguably the greatest play-off final ever will always remain his most memorable moments.
Mendonca will always be remembered in the annals of English football thanks to his hat-trick against Sunderland in the 1998 play-off final. He will always be the only player to have scored three goals in a play-off final at the former Wembley Stadium before to its closure in 2000. The play-offs were first introduced in 1987. For the first three seasons, the finals were played over two legs, but since 1990, they have been decided by one-off games.
Mendonca will always hold the record of being the only player to score a hat-trick in ten years of play-off finals at the former Wembley Stadium. After the stadium was rebuilt, play-off finals were held again at Wembley in 2007. It took just eight years for the new stadium to have more play-off final hat-tricks than the old one. While Jermaine Beckford scored a treble for Preston North End against Swindon Town as they secured promotion to the Championship in 2015, Scott Sinclair scored three goals for Swansea City as they defeated Reading to guarantee their spot in the Premier League in 2011.
Even if it came at the expense of Sunderland, the city he had relocated to when he was two years old, Mendonca remembers his play-off final victory with Charlton with fondness. In an interview with the Daily Mail prior to the Addicks’ 2019 League One play-off final triumph over the Black Cats, he reflected on his accomplishments. “I’m really, really proud,” Mendonca declared. “That game was a turning point in my life; after years of hard work, God rewarded me on that day. “It was just unfortunate for me it was against Sunderland!”
After scoring in the penalty shootout, the striker also gave an explanation for his famous celebration. “After scoring during practice, a trialist became really excited and pulled out his weapons. It was very funny. “The boys said, ‘Get the guns out,’ every time I scored. I did it for the first time, for whatever reason. In addition to being the only player to have scored a hat-trick in a play-off final at the former Wembley Stadium, Mendonca will always be cherished at The Valley and inducted into the Charlton Athletic Hall of Fame in 2012.
Read more news on sportupdates.co.uk
Leave a Reply