Norwich striker Efan Ekoku wrote himself into the Premier League history books when he scored four goals in a match against Everton.
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Since the inception of the Premier League in 1992, a total of 28 players have scored a total of four or more goals in a single match. As expected, the players to have notched up this feat include legendary footballers as well as top players still active. The likes of Sergio Aguero, Harry Kane, Luis Suarez and Ole Gunnar Solksjaer are just a few who have accomplished this feat. But the first player to do this was Efan Ekoku, a Nigerian striker who played for Norwich City at the time. Ekoku recorded this feat in a 5-1 drubbing of Everton at Goodison Park.
With 28 years having passed since the day, let us look back at a historical Premier League moment.
It’s worth noting that the Norwich side in the early ’90s were a much better side than they are now. Currently, they have won their second promotion in three years and are again in a relegation battle.
But towards the end of the 1992-93 season, Norwich were in the title race alongside Manchester United. They would lose out on the title and finish third, but it was still a promising season for the Canaries.
A third-place finish secured UEFA Cup (now the Europa League) football and in Efan Ekoku, they had a striker who was capable of scoring key goals on his day.
He proved as much when he scored Norwich’s first ever goal in European competition against Vitesse Arnhem and would even help them eliminate the mighty Bayern Munich in the next round.
However, it was 10 days after the Vitesse win that Ekoku would get his history-making moment – in a match against Everton at Goodison Park.
Everton were a side in some decline at that point. They were league winners as recently as 1987 but finished 13th in the first Premier League season. Even in the 1993-94 season, they finished 17th.
Therefore, it is fair to say that Norwich were the favourites in this encounter – despite being the away team. However, the Toffees had some positives to draw on too. They had won the Merseyside derby against Liverpool the previous weekend and were quietly optimistic of a result against Norwich.
That quiet optimism would turn to faint hope in the early stages of the match. A long ball lobbed over the top caught the Norwich defence napping, and Paul Rideout slotted him to give the home side the lead.
Everton fans were ecstatic, and the side looked likely to enter the half-time break with the lead. However, Efan Ekoku scored the equaliser in the 44th minute.
He was played through the defence but looked to have run the ball too wide for a shot. A cross seemed a better option from his angle but, with no options in the box, he went for a slashed shot across the goal.
The ball beat the goalkeeper and bulged into the back of the net. Norwich had equalised at a time which, according to conventional wisdom, can have a devastating effect on the team that concedes.
And while that might seem like a cliche, it certainly appeared to take the wind out of Everton’s sails. As such, for the early parts of the second half, it was Norwich who seemed likelier to score.
This turned out to be true when another long ball found Chris Sutton in space. He could have shot but, with Ekoku in the box and defenders swarming, chose instead to lob a ball into Ekoku’s head.
The striker made no mistake, heading across goal to give Norwich what was a deserved lead. It was this goal, however, that really opened up the floodgates.
Sutton would turn provider once again, playing a long ball through to Ruel Fox. He was one-on-one but saw his shot saved. Ekoku was on hand for the rebound though, and completed his hat-trick with a tap-in. What’s more, it was a perfect hat-trick: he scored the first with his right, then a header and finally with his left foot.
Ekoku was, however, not done. He beat a defender and went one-on-one with the goalkeeper before rounding him and adding a fourth. Thus he became the first player in Premier League history to score four goals in a game.
To add insult to injury, Norwich would score a fifth before the game was done. Sutton, who pulled the strings for most of the game, finished a simple chance with 13 minutes to go.
5-1 to Norwich on the day. And Ekoku’s name was in the history books.
