New Year's Day 1990 - Sheffield Wednesday's David Hirst drinks 8 glasses of champagne, scores against Man City, ends up in goal and keeps a clean sheet...with a broken finger

David Hirst dons the gloves for Sheffield Wednesday against Man City on New Year's Day, 1990 David Hirst dons the gloves for Sheffield Wednesday against Man City on New Year's Day, 1990
David Hirst dons the gloves for Sheffield Wednesday against Man City on New Year's Day, 1990 | Sheffield Newspapers
David Hirst's legendary status at Sheffield Wednesday needs no further documenting, but one game on New Year's Day 1990 summed up the Hillsborough hero.

The striker was featured on the Cult Heroes segment on BT Sport show 'Fletch and Sav' where David Hirst revealed what went on before and during the Owls' 2-0 win over Manchester City, 25 years ago.

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And to say today's finely-toned footballing athletes would be gobsmacked, is an understatement.

Picking up the story, Hirst revealed: "Big Ron Atkinson was the manager and he made us come down for breakfast at seven in the morning. In the middle of each table was a nice bottle of pink champagne with glasses all around.

"So I had probably six or seven or maybe eight glasses that morning. In the first half I managed to scrape a goal that put us 1-0 in front and I was feeling a little bit weary by this time.

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"In the second half unfortunately our goalkeeper Kevin Pressman had to be carried off with a cruciate knee ligament injury . I decided to say 'Gaffer, I'll go in goal' to which I managed to keep a clean sheet with a broken finger by the end of the game and we went on to win the game."

This article was first published in The Star on December 31, 2015

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