Cole: Predator!

Last updated : 25 February 2002 By Matt

Cole: Winning moment...
During his time in charge of England, Hoddle had criticised Cole for needing five or six chances before finally scoring, and as a result he constantly opted to leave him out of the national side.

So with the World Cup just around the corner, how Cole will have relished making Hoddle eat those words on Sunday - his 69th-minute strike giving Blackburn Rovers a 2-1 win over Tottenham and taking the League Cup to Ewood Park for the very first time in Rovers history.

Rovers manager Graeme Souness paid Cole a massive compliment after the game, comparing him to former team-mate and Liverpool legend Ian Rush. He said:

"He is a predator - in many ways he is like Ian Rush, who I played with. Rush is a player who would play on the fringes of a game, but if he got half a chance he would cut your throat, and that is what Andy Cole does.

"All that nonsense about him needing four or five chances is a very easy thing for people to cast up time and time again... His track record would suggest he is a bloody good player, a top goalscorer, and he is up there with anybody you want to name..."