He mightn’t be flavour of the month with Giovanni Trapattoni, but Anthony Stokes staked his claim for a place in the Irish squad with a cracking hat-trick against Peterhead today.
Granted, the Scottish Third Division side didn’t prove to be much of a match for the Hoops, but there was no doubting the quality of Stokes’ performance.
The Dubliner’s finishing was clinical throughout, particularly for his brilliant second goal, when he drilled past the Peterhead keeper from the edge of the box despite running away from goal.
With Simon Cox also grabbing a hat-trick this weekend and plenty others ahead of him in the pecking order, Stokes will face plenty of competition if he wants to stake a late claim for the Euro 2012 squad, but at least he’s giving Trap a welcome selection headache as the summer draws closer and closer.
Check out his goals in the video above.
