“Walking up the tunnel to play Sheffield United \[in 1997\], you’re looking across at experienced players and they looked nervous.
“It’s injury time. Andy Roberts and Simon Rodger take a short corner. The ball’s been played in, I’m at the edge of the box and it’s gone past me. I’m running to get the ball, I’m turning and as soon as I’ve turned I know I’m going to hit it. Gareth Taylor came at me – six foot, three inches – and when he came, I just thought I’d bend it around him.”
You know the rest.
“As soon as I hit it, it was like slow motion into the top corner. This is probably the first interview I’ve done about it, because I don’t do interviews regarding this… I probably didn’t realise how good a goal it was at the time. To do all those things you have to do to get the shot away makes it much better looking back now.
“You’re hitting a ball from 25 yards and a standing start. It was fantastic, and a fantastic day. I was delighted, absolutely delighted we scored… I knew as soon as we scored that we’d won it.
“The goal was more of a relief from the year before and I felt that the club deserved it. We deserved it maybe the year before, too… I was delighted for the fans, I was delighted my wife, family and close friends were there and it was a fantastic day – afterwards was just wonderful.”
Finishing what he readily describes as his “best season in football,” Hopkin departed for Leeds United, but four years later – on 15th March, 24 years ago – he would return to Palace for a season-and-a-half cameo to mark the winding down of his playing days.