Former Celtic star's 73mph rocket leaves Alan Shearer gasping 'oh my word' as ace 'only scores worldies'
The star left Celtic last summer and has left punters down south stunned with his latest goal.
A former Celtic star has left Alan Shearer and others stunned by his moment of magic in the FA Cup.
Birmingham City played host to Newcastle United in the premier domestic knockout competition south of the border on Saturday. BBC TV cameras picked up the match and it was a barnstormer, with Newcastle eventually prevailing 3-2 after a back and forth affair with the title-chasing League One side.
Managed by ex-Celtic coach Chris Davies, the Blues side included a galaxy of ex-SPFL faces including Scott Wright, Lyndon Dykes, Ben Davies, Alex Cochrane and Kieran Dowell who just made a switch from Rangers. Another was Tomoki Iwata, who joined from Celtic last summer.
He scored goal of the night and possibly of the entire tournament, leathering an outrageous half-volley style shot from distance beyond Nick Pope at immense speed. A BBC graphic post-match crunched the numbers and calculated it was a shot that broke the speed limit at 73mph.
Iwata has now netted England and Newcastle hero Alan Shearer was part of the punditry team and he was left aghast. He said: “What a strike this is. He’ll never hit one like this in his life again. This is the sweet as they come, on the half volley, oh my word. Keeper has no chance. Unbelievable.”
Shay Given was also looking over it and the ex-Toon keeper had to marvel at the effort. He added: “It was worth the admission fee alone. The power behind it, he only scores worldies and it’s another one for the collection.”
Boss Davies admitted: “It was as good of a goal that you’ll see anywhere. I’ve seen a lot of top goals live but that’s right up there for me, it was an incredible strike. Someone said it was 73 miles per hour!
“When it comes down to him you urge him to shoot but to connect like that, the ‘keeper had no chance. It was a brilliant goal and good as well because we’d just gone 2-1 down, so it gave everyone a lift that we could bounce back. We know Tomoki can hit them like that.”