Watch Tony Yeboah's Wimbledon screamer 29 years on as Leeds United icon picks favourite from that and Liverpool effort
The Leeds United icon scored many great goals but was his best on this day almost three decades ago?
Tony Yeboah cemented his status as a Leeds United icon on this day 29 years ago after rifling home his second screamer in one month at Wimbledon - a goal which is still looked back on fondly almost three decades later.
Despite spending just two-and-a-half years at Leeds, Yeboah earned cult hero status among supporters thanks mainly to his penchant for the spectacular. The £3.4million Ghanaian bagged 32 goals in 66 games overall, with many of them lifting supporters off their seats.
And never more so was that true than the start of the 1995/96 campaign, a period in which Yeboah became a household name throughout the Premier League and a regular in nostalgic compilations for years to come. After bagging a brace to beat West Ham 2-1 on the opening weekend, the forward scored the only goal in a 1-0 victory at home to Liverpool - the first of two iconic efforts.
Yeboah found himself underneath Rodney Wallace’s header before unleashing a fierce volley past David James and in off the underside of the bar. But that early Goal of the Season contender was matched, or even bettered, in a 4-2 win over Wimbledon on September 23.
Having picked up a loose header round 40 yards from goal, Yeboah worked himself some space before smashing a right-footed rocket into an almost identical part of the top right-hand corner, once again smashing in off the crossbar. Both were nominated for the 1995/96 Goal of the Season, with that cracking effort at Wimbledon eventually winning.
“Sometimes, when a ball leaves your foot you know it’s heading straight in,” Yeboah told FourFourTwo back in 2020, reflecting on those two excellent efforts. “The Liverpool one means more to me as it was against my idols, it was live on television, and it was my first really great goal in England.
“To be honest, for technique and control, the goal against Wimbledon is better. But if you then add the ingredients of the crowd, the size of the match and all of the emotion, it’s the Liverpool one.”
The debate as to which goal was better continues to this very day, but those who saw both live evidently preferred the Wimbledon effort, which was crowned Goal of the Season. It is a great regret among many Leeds fans that they only got to see Yeboah for two-and-a-half years, with the forward offloaded to Hamburger SV in September 1997 after a clash of personalities with new manager George Graham.
But even 29 years after that effort at Wimbledon, the name Yeboah remains forever linked to some of the best goals ever seen by Leeds fans and it is often the benchmark for future efforts. And it will likely continue to be in 29 year’s time.