Deflected worldie you say? That's impossible! Not if your name is James McClean as the winger proved tonight by running the length of the pitch and dribbling half of it to score his first goal in 16 months.
McClean was clearly jealous of Shane Long's five minutes in the spotlight and responded with a brilliantly worked (albeit deflected) goal against West Ham.
The Derry man went on a lung bursting run from his own box playing a one-two with Rondon before skipping past Winston Reid and riding his would be tackle before cutting back onto his favoured left foot just outside the West Ham box. The winger then took a shot which fortunately deflected off of Angelo Ogbonna to give the West Midlands side the lead.
Here's a frame by frame analysis of the goal.
McClean receives the ball around 25 yards from his own goal:
He plays a neat one-two with Saloman Rondon as he motors up the field:
An incisive touch inside and he's away from Reid:
McClean manages to evade the centre back's lunge as he makes his way towards goal:
The winger cuts back onto his left peg and lines up a strike at goal:
The ball loops off of Ogbonna:
And totally tricks Adrian as the ball loops into the back of the net:
It really is a shame a great run will end in a deflected goal. You wonder whether the ball would've gone in anyway, but nevertheless it was a brilliant run by McClean who really demonstrated how incisive he can be once he gets a run on defenders.
With Shane Long also getting on the scoresheet tonight it's great to see two of Ireland's biggest stars get off the mark in 2018.
