Great Steve Sidwell goals are seldom, but when they do occur they tend to be overshadowed by a teammate's brilliance. Ashley Young outshone him in Aston Villa's 3-2 win at Everton in December 2008 and on Monday night Pajtim Kasami hit arguably the pick of the weekend's goals in Fulham's 4-1 Premier League win at Crystal Palace.
Much was made of Darren Bent's appearance in a Fulham shirt at Selhurst Park after he came close to joining Palace before opting on a loan move to the Cottagers, but it was Kasami who hogged the limelight with a stunning volley to turn the game on it's head.
If Fulham had been mediocre in the first 15 minutes, their equalising goal was anything but as Kasami collected a long ball forward from Sascha Riether on his chest and, despite the close attention of Adrian Mariappa, rifled a volley of the highest calibre past Julian Speroni from the edge of the penalty area.
Kasami lets fly to score Fulham's opener
The technique, timing, difficulty and manner of Kasami's goal was wonderful enough, but it was one of those rare goals when the opponents were utterly faultless. Palace forced a long ball, Mariappa tracked Kasami's run run and edged the Swiss away from goal, but was outdone by an ingenious piece of skill.
Kasami's manager, Martin Jol, rated it higher than Marco van Basten's Euro 88 final volley against the Soviet Union.
"It was better than you think. He controlled it on his chest and put it in the other corner," Jol beamed.
"Marco's was very different. You can't compare them - but this was better!"
Kasami's belter paved the way for one of Fulham's most ruthless performances in recent years. Sidwell hit an Exocet from 20 yards to give the Cottagers a half-time lead before goals from Dimitar Berbatov and Philippe Senderos added gloss to the scoreline.
Only a tremendous save from Speroni prevented Kasami adding a fifth with another rasping effort late on, with Fulham having to settle for four and equalling their best ever away win in the Premier League.
