By Chris Wright
T’was Saturday 8th February, 2003 and despite Fulham being the home side, their Premier League tie against Aston Villa game was staged at QPR’s Loftus Road ground due to the stop-start redevelopment and modernisation of Craven Cottage.
After going 0-1 down in the third minute to a Gareth Barry opener for Villa, Fulham took just ten minutes to restore parity courtesy of a Steed Malbranque penalty.
Then, ten minutes before half-time, came the goal that would eventually prove to be both the winner and quite possibly the peak of Jon Harley’s admittedly perfectly respectable career.
Galloping onto a loose ball, the ex-Chelsea left-back connected with an absolutely biblical shot that flew in past Peter Enckelmann from 40-yards before the Villa ‘keeper could even flinch…
Sadly for the once-promising Harley, his Howitzer against Villa proved to be his only goal in the 19 league starts he made for Fulham during his three largely uneventful seasons at the Cottage.
After gradually precipitating down the leagues, Harley, now aged 35, was last spotted playing for his hometown side, Maidstone United, in the Isthmian Premier Division on a rolling non-contract basis.
More random great goals on Pies…
Patrick M’Boma (Gamba Osaka) vs Shonan Bellmare
Lothar Matthaus (Bayern Munich) vs Bayer Leverkusen
Ian Wright (Arsenal) vs Swindon
Roberto Cabanas (New York Cosmos) vs Tulsa Roughnecks
Steve Bull (England) vs Czechoslovakia
Thierry Henry (Arsenal) vs SC Wiez
Muzzy Izzet (Leicester) vs Grimsby
Darren Barnard (Barnsley) vs Huddersfield
Juan Roman Riquelme (Boca Juniors) vs Corinthians
Hugo Almeida (Porto) vs Inter Milan
Paulo Wanchope (Costa Rica) vs Uruguay
Youssef Safri (Norwich) vs Newcastle
Paul Lambert (Celtic) vs Rangers
Ilie Dumitrescu (Romania) vs Argentina
Rivaldo And Friends (Olympiakos) vs PAOK