| A highly-prized striker with an excellent goalscoring record and a vicious left foot, David Hirst of Sheffield Wednesday was a deserved recipient of international recognition when Graham Taylor followed the form books and brought him into the set-up for the summer tour of Oceania in 1991. Hirst - later the subject of a failed bid by Manchester United - debuted alongside Gary Lineker in the opening fixture of the tour against Australia, before sitting aside to allow the other experimental forwards (Brian Deane, Ian Wright, Nigel Clough) the chance to partner the England captain at one point or another. Hirst then came on as a sub in the third game against New Zealand and scored the second goal in a comfortable 2-0 win. When England's other especially talented young striker, Alan Shearer, also got a quick goal on his debut in February 1992, Hirst was alongside him as France were put to the sword (the photo above is during the game), but he was substituted by Lineker late in the game - Lineker himself scored the second in the 2-0 success - and then suffered horribly with a succession of injuries which curtailed his progress and ultimately put paid to his top-level ambition. He never returned to the form which got him into the international scene and that was a genuine shame, as the talent and potential was obvious. Everything Shearer went on to achieve was also in Hirst's grasp, but for luck. (Matthew Rudd) |