WATCH: The day Jordan Rhodes announced himself to Sheffield Wednesday fans with a masterclass at Hillsborough
The day that Jordan Rhodes tore up the Hillsborough turf.
A little more than five years ago Rhodes took centre stage in a quite extraordinary match between promotion rivals Wednesday and his then club Huddersfield Town.
Huddersfield led 2-0 after 16 minutes. By minute 74, Wednesday were 4-2 ahead. And after six breathless minutes of injury time, the score was 4-4.
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Hide AdRhodes scored all four Huddersfield goals in a devastating individual performance - the type of which you don't forget quickly.
It was one of those days where a striker was in such form that you would have bet your house on him scoring every time he had the ball in the box. The final goal, the equaliser, was painful to watch from a Wednesday perspective. Painful in its inevitability.
As soon as Rhodes took possession, you knew the ball would end up in the back of the net. He eyed the gap and slammed the ball home.
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Hide AdHis finishing that December day - and throughout a brilliant season where he netted 40 times in total - was breathtaking. And that is exactly what, five years on, he remains capable of as he arrives back at Hillsborough, this time in the blue and white of Wednesday.
A natural finisher is exactly what the Owls need after their lack of a killer touch in front of goal so far this season. Provided his new team mates can take care of the business of getting the ball in the box, Rhodes should take things from there.
In his match report from that 4-4 thriller, The Star's forrmer Wednesday writer Paul Thompson wrote: "Rhodes could have scored more: he missed with a header at 0-0 and a lob at 2-0.
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Hide Ad"But all his goals were expertly taken, and the first three came via balls from left winger Gary Roberts. For the first, Rhodes lost Danny Batth to get in a free header; for the second he darted in front of Rob Jones to nod home; for the third he pulled away from Jones to find space.
"The fourth had a freaky build-up; a kick from keeper Ian Bennett sped low and through the legs of a team-mate, the past Chris Lines, to reach centre half Peter Clarke, who was up in the Wednesday half and played a through ball; Jones had come forward with Rhodes, the striker turned and sprinted in between the covering Reda Johnson and Julian Bennett to finish impressively."
It was a day when the seed was first planted. "That Rhodes is the lad of our goalkeeping coach - do you think we can get him here." And in the five years since - particularly following the arrival of Dejphon Chansiri and his chequebook - barely a week has gone by during a transfer window without the names Rhodes being mentioned in relation to Sheffield Wednesday.
It may not have worked out for him at Middlesbrough but that does not diminish his obvious natural goalscoring talent that has delivered 186 goals in 369 appearances. Anyone who needs a reminder of his ability only needs to recall December 17, 2011.