Port Vale star scores perfect Di Canio goal on 22nd anniversary of iconic strike

Paolo Di Canio's sumptuous scissor kick volley against Wimbledon in 2000 remains one of the stand-out goals in Premier League history.

The iconic strike from the then West Ham striker was a perfect execution that left Dons' goalkeeper Neil Sullivan with no chance. It not only scooped the Match of the Day goal of the season award for 1999-2000 but in 2016 it was voted the best goal ever scored at the Hammers' Upton Park stadium in their final season there.

Saturday saw the 22nd anniversary of the wonder goal - and a League Two centre-forward saw fit to pay proper tribute to the Italian. Port Vale's Jamie Proctor unleashed his very own karate kick-style effort in his team's 2-0 win over Sutton United.

After the ball looped into the air following a deflection, Proctor jumped high to scissor-kick a crisp volley into the back of the net. Proctor and his teammates could scarcely believe the strike - his ninth of the campaign.

Vale's official Twitter account paid tribute, by retweeting a clip of the Di Canio strike with the caption: "Exactly 22 years later, Jamie Proctor despatched one of his own."

Proctor was relatively modest about his wonder goal when interviewed by club media post-match. He said of the goal: "It was at a perfect height to hit. It's one of those you don't usually score - I don't anyway. I've not scored a goal like that ever.

"I just thought 'have a go' - why not? We were playing well at the time, we looked confident and were on the front foot. Sometimes they go in and sometimes they don't. Luckily for me and the team today, it did."

Whose strike was better? Let us know in the comments

Di Canio has previously said of his goal: "The Wimbledon goal was very good! The delivery was a typical English delivery, you know, as it was a delivery that started and arrived quickly. In an instant, I saw this ball arrive and I did a bicycle volley instinctively and the percentage of the difficulty is 99 per cent. But, if you see the change in the air, it is a harmony that only the dancer can have. I can understand in England why they show this because it was pretty much a perfect strike."

Proctor's strike for Vale followed James Wilson's fortuitous opener. The victory sees Vale jump from ninth up to fourth in the table and they are right in the mix for a play-off spot in a tightly-bunched race which sees just seven points separate second from tenth.

Assistant manager Andy Crosby said: "It was an electric start. We said we had to start fast, which we have been doing here. We got on the front foot and scored two early goals. The game became a little bit scrappy then for the rest of the first half and they had a spell. But we knew what we had to do today against them. Out of possession, we had to do all the basics to a really high level."