Throughout his time in England as both a player and a manager, it was difficult to keep Paolo Di Canio out of the headlines.

The Italian's fiery personality meant that he was liable to self-implode at any moment, just as he did when he pushed referee Paul Alcock to the ground after he had been red-carded during Sheffield Wednesday's clash against Arsenal in 1998.

However, there were also plenty of positives, with perhaps the biggest of them all occurring 15 years ago today.

Now of West Ham United, the striker had started his side's encounter at home to Wimbledon in positive form. Even so, as the game ticked into the ninth minute, there had been little suggestion that he was about to score one of the Premier League's best ever goals.

The late Marc-Vivien Foe sprayed a pass out towards the the flank for Trevor Sinclair. The winger took a touch, before switching the play from right to left with a pinpoint crossfield ball for Di Canio, who had taken up residence inside the Wimbledon penalty area.

With the ball at hip height, 99 out of 100 players would have attempted to control it, but not Di Canio. Almost defying the laws of physics, the forward, with both feet off the ground, managed to fire a volley beyond the reach of a stunned Neil Sullivan in the away side's goal.

Quoted in The Guardian recently, Di Canio said of that goal: "I got a lot of praise for the volley I scored against Wimbledon. Sure, it was a spectacular goal. What I did was extremely difficult, because it requires total body control, timing and balance.

"Compared to a bicycle kick or a scissors kick it is much more difficult, because in those situations your body weight is going backwards, which helps stabilise you. But when I struck the ball against Wimbledon, both feet were in the air, even just making contact was quite an achievement.

"But goals like that don't just come out of thin air. I was able to do it because it was something I had practised for hours and hours in training. I attempted it so many times that it became an instinctive gesture. As the cross came in, I didn't even think about what I was going to do. My brain just decided for me, it just happened."

In the second half, Freddie Kanoute made sure of the outcome when he found the net for the first time since his switch to England, which rendered Michael Hughes's late goal for the Dons a consolation.

However, it was Di Canio's strike, which later would be voted Goal of the Season, that was understandably the biggest talking point at Upton Park.

WEST HAM: Forrest; Lomas, Ferdinand, Stimac, Minto; Sinclair, Lampard, Foe, Moncur (Keller); Di Canio, Kanoute

WIMBLEDON: Sullivan; Cunningham, Andersen, Willmott (Blackwell), Kimble; Ardley (Leaburn), Earle (Francis), Euell, Hughes; Gayle, Lund