Joleon Lescott must have thought he had the situation under control. The West Bromwich Albion defender had been surprised at first by the pace of Bobby Zamora as they chased after a long ball, but he still appeared to be in a position that would allow him to shepherd the Queens Park Rangers striker away from goal. The angle was tight, the ball was on Zamora’s weaker right foot and even the QPR fans at The Hawthorns were probably not expecting too much. There were two minutes left until half-time and their side had already defied expectations by racing into a 2-0 lead.
What happened next was extraordinary. Perhaps realising that he was not quick enough to burst away from Lescott again, Zamora improvised, using the outside of his trusty left foot to strike the ball early and send a beautiful lob spinning over the head of the stranded Boaz Myhill. Three-nil, game over and QPR were on their way to a precious 4-1 victory that has revitalised their hopes of staying up.
On a weekend of stunning goals, Zamora’s effort was arguably the best. It had the chutzpah of Charlie Adam’s 65-yard missile against Chelsea, the touch and technique of Wayne Rooney’s swivelling volley against Aston Villa and the did-that-actually-just-happen quality of Jermain Defoe’s winner for Sunderland against Newcastle United, and above all it was a gloriously subtle goal, instinct combining with a clear thought-process to devastating effect. Although Zamora did not back his body in a sprint, he was still a step ahead of Lescott and Myhill, his mind moving faster than his opponents. It was a goal that left Ruud Gullit comparing him to Lionel Messi on Match of the Day.
Gullit’s giddy astonishment was understandable. Veteran strikers who have seen better days are not supposed to score goals this good and when they do there is a temptation to regard it as a flash in the pan, a fluke even, more luck than judgment. Enjoy it while it lasts, Bobby, but you’ll never do it again.
Yet this is nothing new for Zamora, who has very occasionally been taking the breath away ever since he first began to make a name for himself with Brighton & Hove Albion 15 years ago. Brighton fans do not have many fond memories of playing at the Withdean Stadium, but this dipping volley from Zamora is one of them, while a chaotic dribble for West Ham against Birmingham City in December was another moment to cherish. In a world of cultured left feet, Zamora’s would always take a Saturday evening at the opera over one spent watching The X Factor.
There was a time when he was a great goalscorer and not just a scorer of great goals. The young Zamora was a scourge of the lower leagues and he was seen as a future England striker. He scored 83 goals in three years for Brighton and there was plenty of excitement when he joined Glenn Hoddle’s Tottenham Hotspur for £1.5m in 2003.
It was Hoddle’s last hurrah at the club, however, his ill-fated Hélder Postiga summer, and Zamora lasted only half a season at White Hart Lane. He scored once for Tottenham, an extra-time winner in the League Cup against West Ham, the team he supported as a boy, and three months later he joined them as part of the deal in which Defoe left east London for White Hart Lane.
West Ham were in the Championship and Zamora was expected to lead them back into the Premier League. However, he found the pressure overwhelming at first and he quickly became a target for supporters, especially after wasting the best chance when they were beaten 1-0 by Iain Dowie’s Crystal Palace in the 2004 play-off final.
That miss seemed to weigh heavily on Zamora’s shoulders and he had a bit-part role for much of the following season, Alan Pardew preferring to use Marlon Harewood and Teddy Sheringham as his front two. As the song went: “When the ball hits the head of the bloke in Row Z, that’s Zamora.”
However, when Sheringham suffered a hamstring injury during the run-in, Pardew had no option but to start Zamora in the play-off semi-final against Ipswich Town and after a year of forgettable performances, he would make himself a hero at West Ham.
The first leg ended 2-2 at Upton Park, Zamora scoring West Ham’s second, and he was the inspiration when they won 2-0 at Portman Road. Zamora opened the scoring from close range in the second half and then he sealed West Ham’s place in the final with an outrageous goal, delicately using his left foot to cushion Harewood’s wonderful pass beyond Kelvin Davis in the Ipswich goal. West Ham beat Preston North End 1-0 in the final and Zamora scored the winner.
Zamora can be infuriating but he is often reliable in a crisis. Carlos Tevez received most of the credit for keeping West Ham up in the 2006-07 season, but it should not be forgotten that Zamora scored the winner four times during the run-in. The pick of the bunch was a 25-yard rocket in a 1-0 win over Everton and it was Zamora who condemned Arsenal to their first defeat at the Emirates when his lob caught Jens Lehmann off his line.
Zamora lasted one more season at West Ham before joining Fulham. He was brilliant for Roy Hodgson’s side in their run to the Europa League final in 2010 – a 20-yard blast in a win over Shakhtar Donetsk summed up how influential Zamora was for them during those heady days – and his form convinced Fabio Capello to give him his first England cap. He played in a friendly against Hungary in August 2010 and he was involved in Capello’s final match as England’s manager, a 1-0 friendly win at home to Sweden in November 2011.
He moved to QPR two months later and they stayed up on the final day of the season but injuries meant that he barely featured when they were relegated in 2013 and his chronic hip problem meant that he had to be managed carefully last season. He may have to be used sparingly in Tuesday evening’s crucial match at Aston Villa.
Zamora has lost much of his mobility and, in the 34-year-old’s own words, he is a battering ram of a striker now. His upright, muscular hold-up play makes him the perfect foil for Charlie Austin and he is an awkward, persistent handful for defenders.
Yet he is more than a target man and while QPR’s hopes of winning their battle against relegation appear to rest on Austin’s goals, Zamora has a history of late and improbable rescue missions. After all, he is the reason they are in the Premier League.
Just when it was looking desperate for QPR in last season’s Championship play-off final, up popped Zamora with the last-minute goal that broke Derby’s hearts. It was a lovely finish, a curling left-foot shot that confirmed once and for all that few strikers are more composed than Zamora in pressure situations. QPR should pray for a few more moments of Zamora magic.
