Preston's Brad Potts has already beaten his strike tally for the whole of last season - and he is unlikely to ever score a better goal than the one he registered in Saturday's win at Luton Town.
The North End midfielder only notched once in the 2021-22 campaign but after scoring midweek in an EFL Cup tie at Huddersfield, he followed it up with a stunning goal at Kenilworth Road.
The 28-year-old applied an acrobatic scissor kick finish that flew into the top corner, giving Hatters' stopper Ethan Horvath absolutely no chance. That was the only goal of the game and proved a more than worthy winner as Ryan Lowe's side move up to seventh in the Championship.
The quality of Potts' goal had plenty of people comparing it to similar strikes from years gone by. That included Paolo Di Canio's effort for West Ham against Wimbledon in 2000 and going even further back, Marco van Basten's legendary effort for the Netherlands against Soviet Union in the final of Euro 1988.
Jamie Mackie, a pundit on ITV's EFL coverage, said of Potts' goal: "I don't even want to put another label on it. He's got the height and the athleticism to get up on the shoulder of the defender who is covering there. We know Robbie Brady has got quality and will put a good ball in, but you don't expect someone to come in like that at the back post. What a fantastic goal. We might not see many better this season than that."
And the strike certainly had fans purring on social media. One wrote: "Unlikely to see a better goal technically all season. Take a bow Brad Potts." Another said: "Haaland has Brad Potts posters on his bedroom wall."
A third put: "Never seen brad Potts score a normal goal - what a finish."
Lowe, speaking post-match, said of the strike: "I haven't seen it back yet! I just remember seeing him with his two legs in the air and I wondered what he was doing.
"And next thing it hits the back of the net! He has had great goal scoring attributes all his career and it was wing-back to wing-back. He is off the mark with two goals now."
On the game in general, Lowe added: "The performance was okay. We scored a fantastic goal and defended very good. We managed the game - you can't come here and go toe-to-toe with them, because we have to respect a good Luton team who just missed out on the Premier League. We found a way today to take three points against a very good team. We know what Nathan's team is about - they are relentless. We needed a bit of luck along the way but the performance was good enough. The attitude and application was spot on."
