When West Ham’s Alvin Martin scored the rarest of hat tricks

This day in football history

On 21 April 1986, West Ham center back Alvin Martin scored a rare hat trick against Newcastle — with each goal coming against a different goalkeeper.

Playing before a crowd of almost 25,000 at Upton Park, Newcastle began the day with Martin Thomas, their regular goalkeeper. Thomas had missed their previous match, a 1–1 draw at Chelsea, due to a shoulder injury and was still not completely fit. But Newcastle’s back-up keeper had gotten himself injured at Stamford Bridge and did not make the trip to West Ham, so Thomas had to start.

After only four minutes, Martin beat Thomas for his first goal of the day. By halftime, with Thomas having conceded two more West Ham goals and a Newcastle own-goal, he was unable to continue, replaced by midfielder Chris Hedworth for the second half. Hedworth lasted less than 30 minutes in goal after damaging his collarbone on an awkward fall, but not before Martin scored again.

As Hedworth returned to the midfield, forward Peter Beardsley stepped between the pipes and conceded three more goals, the last of which was delivered by Martin in the 84th minute.

The Hammers ended the season in third place, their best-ever finish. Martin remained at Upton Park until 1996, when he moved to Leyton Orient.