Alan Pattullo: Charlie Adam’s wonder-strike

Stephen Ireland congratulates team-mate Charlie Adam on his wonder goal. Picture: Getty

Don’t count me among those who are in thrall to the English Premier League. However, watching Sportscene on Sunday night and knowing the standard of goal to come on Match of the Day 2, it was slightly dispiriting to see the scuffed Scottish Premiership efforts, in those games lucky enough to be decorated by goals of any sort.

But it was uplifting to know Adam was the star of the weekend. Despite the glut of wonder goals in the English top flight, his was still the one to which they all had to defer. Keep your volleys into top corners, corkscrew turns and diving headers, there is something almost mystical about a ball being propelled such a long way, particularly if done with such artful precision, as Adam’s was; two touches, goalie-off-his line, then… whoosh. There surely won’t be a better one scored between now and the end of the season, meaning Adam is bound to be the first Scot since Graeme Sharp, whose admittedly stunning volley for Everton against Liverpool at Anfield in 1984-85 still inspires awe, to win the goal of the season award in England.

Indeed, might Adam’s strike even count as the reigning goal of the millennium? Not bad for someone whom cricketer Freddie Flintoff gracelessly Twitter-shamed for “looking like a bus driver”.