Nikolai Topor-Stanley has taken out the Goal of the Year award at the Dolan Warren Awards for his thunderous strike against Perth Glory in Round 21 of the Hyundai A-League 2019/20 season.
One of the most memorable strikes in Newcastle Jets history, Topor-Stanley’s goal (just his 11th in a career spanning more than 300 Hyundai A-League matches) stunned the country.
From some 30 metres out, the number 44 unleashed a shot which rocketed past the outstretched arm of Liam Reddy and nestled in the top corner of the net to put the Jets into the lead.
Sit back and enjoy the Hyundai A-League Goal of the Year ⚽️ 🔥#ALeague #DolanWarrenAwards pic.twitter.com/G8vwXnu12v
— Isuzu UTE A-League (@aleaguemen) September 10, 2020
His third of the season, but surely the most incredible of his career, the shot clocked in at a whopping 128km/h.
He’s not the first Jet to take out the award: Andrew Nabbout also won Hyundai A-League Goal of the Year back in the 2017/18 season. We’ve also had two of our women receieve the award in years past, too: Emily van Egmond in 2012/13, and Cortnee Vine in 2018/19.
After receiving the award, Topor-Stanley walked fans back through the moment he scored the goal.
“I remember Steven Ugarkovic yelling ‘shoot!’, but I’m pretty sure he was joking,” Topor-Stanley said.
“It sat up nicely, I remember just… it flying off the boot, I didn’t really hit it that hard or with too much force, it was just a clean strike.
“I saw Rocket (Liam Reddy) diving for it and I thought ‘don’t you dare, don’t you get a hand to that’, and he didn’t.
“As soon as it left the boot, I knew it was on target and to beat a ‘keeper of that calibre is always nice, so was getting the win in that game.”
