Yannick Bolasie has revealed the role Sunderland nemesis Shola Ameobi played in helping him fire an 11minute hat-trick against the Black Cats on Saturday.
Ex-Newcastle striker Ameobi watched from the bench as Bolasie blitzed Sunderland at the Stadium of Light to earn Crystal Palace a 4-1 win.
Ameobi scored seven goals against the Black Cats during his 14 years on Tyneside, which saw him dubbed ‘The Mackem Slayer’. He joined his former Newcastle manager Alan Pardew at Crystal Palace in January, and has joined in with the calls for Congolese international Bolasie to score more goals. His striking tuition paid off at the weekend.
Bolasie said: “The gaffer’s been on to me at training, the boys have as well – the likes of Shola. Everyone is saying I need to get more goals.
“Three goals have come at once, which is a bit weird. I’ve been working on that in the last couple of months and I’m starting to see a little bit of rewards because I’m getting chances and I think I’ve been a bit unlucky this season, hitting the crossbar and the post a few times.
“To score more goals you’ve got to into positions. It’s what I’m working on and that’s what I’m going to be working on and hopefully you’ll see me hit the back of the net a little bit more.”
Bolasie, meanwhile, credited the attacking style that Pardew has instilled at Palace since joining the Eagles after his December departure from Newcastle for their upturn in fortunes.
“I think we’ve got players who can cause problems for different sides on the pitch,” the attacker told TalkSport.
“So you’ve got Wilfried (Zaha) on one side of the pitch and Jason (Puncheon) and myself on the other and obviously Glenn (Murray) is scoring up top”.
“That’s making it difficult for teams to suss us out, doubling up on one side and we’ve still got myself and Jason on the other.”
Bolasie’s hat-trick was Crystal Palace’s first in the Premier League, but the 11 minutes it took him to score it is some way down the list of the League’s fastest, which is led by Liverpool’s former-striker Robbie Fowler, who scored his three goals in a scarcely believable 5 minutes.
