Kieffer Moore scored an ‘Alan Shearer-like’ goal as his glancing header saw Wales battle to a 1-1 draw against Switzerland in Baku.
The Cardiff striker got his head onto Joe Morrell’s searching cross from the right to cancel out Breel Embolo’s opener in the Euro 2020 encounter.
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It sent the travelling Wales fans who made the journey to Azerbaijan wild and former Dragons international Dean Saunders was coca hoop as he also labelled manager Rob Page a ‘genius’ for playing Moore.
“Robert Page, a genius! We all thought he was going to play Harry Wilson, but he stuck with Kieffer Moore and that’s why he’s there,” Saunders said on commentary for talkSPORT.
“A short corner, a great ball and it’s a great header from Moore. He’s attacked the ball, it’s Alan Shearer-like, he’s just guided it in.”
When Wales made it to the semi-finals of Euro 2016, Moore was playing non-league football with Forest Green Rovers.
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It’s been some journey for the 6ft 4ins striker and Saunders is likening his career to that of Jamie Vardy as he backed Moore to get a Premier League transfer.
“Kieffer Moore, what is he, 6ft 4in? He won’t be at Cardiff for long. I know Mick McCarthy won’t thank me for saying that…
“His presence in the box, when you’ve got a big striker what people sometimes forget is not only do they score, and even if they don’t score, they stop the defenders from heading the ball out of the box. So you can get other players into the area and the ball is dropping down for them.
“Peter Crouch used to do that, he used to come on and it was chaos sometimes. He would create chaos in the box.
“His goal, it was off the training ground. They take it short, they whip a cross in and Moore is already running across the penalty spot, and it’s one of those great glancing headers from him.
“I know he’s a Cardiff player and I want Cardiff to do well, but I think Kieffer Moore is going to end up in the Premier League.
“A bit more coaching with him, a bit more time, he’s started in non-league and when non-league players go on to play higher up, like Jamie Vardy, they naturally sprint and work hard.
“They all had to earn a living down there on £300 or £400 a week, where if you don’t try the manager will bin you.
“So he’s got that in him, it’s just the other bits now, the finesse and a bit of coaching about when he’s got his back to the goal, I think he’ll be playing in the Premier League.”
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Moore forced Yann Sommer into a great save early on but Switzerland had more chances in the first half in a match where the Welsh rode their luck. Fabian Schar and Haris Seferovic went close close, while Embolo could have won a penalty.
The Swiss took a deserved lead just after the break as Embolo nodded in Xherdan Shaqiri’s corner from the right – the goal coming moments after Danny Ward brilliantly denied Embolo’s effort from the edge of the box.
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Switzerland should have doubled their lead when Embolo teed up Kevin Mbabu, while Embolo’s clever effort curled just wide of the post on 65 minutes.
Page’s side made Switzerland pay for their lack of composure as Moore got Wales level. A short corner was played to Morrell and his cross found Moore who snuck in to head through a crowd and beyond Sommer.
It appeared Switzerland had snatched a win at the death but Mario Gavranovic’s volley from close range was disallowed for offside following a VAR check. Meanwhile, Ward tipped Embolo’s header over the bar in stoppage-time.
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