West Ham United’s most famous win over Newcastle United was undoubtedly the 8-1 Boleyn Ground mauling in the fabled Boys of ’86 season.
The stand-out memory of that game is Alvin Martin’s hat-trick, which came against three different goalkeepers – Martin Thomas, Chris Hedworth and Peter Beardsley.
As the Hammers prepare to take on the Magpies again this Monday, we invited Martin down to see if he could recreate the feat against today’s crop – Adrian, Darren Randolph and Raphael Spiegel. See if he managed the treble strike again in the video above!
Martin said: “It wasn’t the greatest hat-trick but I didn’t know until I got off the pitch that I’d scored against different goalkeepers in the game, because I was so focused on the game itself.
“Trevor Smith, the old reporter for the Recorder, told me every goal came against a different goalkeeper, which I thought was brilliant.
“We scored early on, and then at 5-1 you can relax and enjoy yourself, and we had the cigars out. I remember being able to enjoy the game without any pressure.
“For this recreation I don’t know who was under more pressure, me or the goalkeepers, because they’ve been beaten by a 57-year-old geezer! It was a bit of fun and I enjoyed it.”