No doubt you’ll have seen the footage by now. West Ham United teenager Preston Fearon lobbing the goalkeeper from the halfway line before, only 19 minutes later, doing it again.

When the twinkle-toed teenager talked about adding consistency and regular goals to his game, he presumably didn’t mean this.

Mark Robson, the Hammers U21 coach, called it ‘outstanding’. We’re pretty sure just about every adjective in the diary has been used at this point, as West Ham United fans pore over the footage and proclaim Fearon a first-team sensation in waiting.

But where does the halfway-line hero rank in terms of the longest-range goals scored in recorded West Ham history?

West Ham United have scored some iconic long-range goals over the years

Manuel Lanzini vs Tottenham Hotspur, 2020 – around 25 yards

You’ve seen it a thousand times. But even on viewing 1,001, it doesn’t get any less satisfying. The occasion itself was remarkable enough – West Ham fought from 3-0 down to snatch a draw at Spurs – and that 12 minute blitz was capped by the most awesome of conclusions. A swerving blockbuster of a strike from Lanzini which could hardly have landed more perfectly between the bar and the post.

“I was jumping up and down, because it was such a big moment,” beamed a breathless Moyes, his hamstrings still aching from his celebratory jig down the touchline. “To come back from 3-0 down to three each, [that celebration] is what you get.”

Frank Lampard vs Middlesbrough, 1999 – around 30 yards

Lampard would later become one of the most prolific goalscorers from outside the box in world football. His fizzer at home to Middlesbrough just before the Millennium, then, was a sign of things to come.

Paolo di Canio rolled a corner into his direction, and a 20-year-old Lampard fired the ball through a forest of legs and into the Boro net.

Thomas Hitzlsperger vs Burnley, 2011 – around 35 yards

He wasn’t called Hitzlsperger ‘The Hammer’ for nothing. On a belated West Ham debut in January 2011, the former Germany international lit up an FA Cup third round tie with Burnley by blasting home from distance.

This was a dictionary definition, trademark Hitzlsperger strike. And it made the wait, after months on the sidelines, very much worth it.

Pedro Obiang vs Tottenham, 2018 – around 35 yards

Some of West Ham’s finest strikes of the Premier League era have come against Spurs. Pedro Obiang’s bone-rattler back in 2018 is perhaps not quite as memorable as Lanzini’s given the circumstances – the opener in a 1-1 draw rather than a 94th minute equaliser from 3-0 down – but it was no less spectacular.

Hugo Lloris could’ve cloned himself and neither one would have reached a shot which exploded into the roof of the net.

Dimitri Payet vs Manchester United, 2016 – around 35 yards

Despite the nature of his extremely contentious exit, Payet still looks back fondly on his time at West Ham. Moments like his ferocious free-kick in the FA Cup at Man United deserve to be remembered.

If that Crystal Palace curler was his best free-kick in West Ham colours, then the one which beat David de Gea at Old Trafford was certainly the furthest out.

“Dimitri Payet’s free-kick against Manchester United was one of the best I have seen,” an awe-struck Slaven Bilic said, the Hammers boss spending his free time moonlighting as a local reporter on the beat in his column for The Standard.

“I was expecting him to shoot but, as Dimitri lined it up, I was thinking that it was a bit far out and David de Gea is in goal — one of the best. I said to myself, ‘this has to be a great one’. And it was. It was one of the best.”

Preston Fearon makes history for the Hammers’ Under-21s

Until last night, there has never been a goal in West Ham’s recorded history scored from the halfway line. Nineteen-year-old Fearon, then, has a unique spot in club folklore all to himself.