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PDC totally pleased to see his record go to Mikey

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Stu Forster/Getty Images

Heroic Hammer Paolo Di Canio could not be more pleased to see Michail Antonio pass his revious goal scoring record for the club.

Antonio’s brace in Monday’s 4-1 win over Leicester City took him onto 49 Premier League goals in Claret and Blue – two more than Italian forward and fellow fans’ favourite Di Canio.

Speaking in his role as a pundit on Sky Italia, the 53-year-old, who scored 47 times in 118 Premier League appearances in Claret and Blue between 1999 and 2003, praised the current No9 for eclipsing his own achievement.

Generous was as pleased as the rest of us as Mikey celebrated his big achievement  in style on the piytch with a  cardboard cut out of himself and on TV.

He’s one of th mist genuine guys to ever kick a ball professionally and without any question has reached legend status with this club.

The Italian couldnt have been more fulsome in his praise saying: “Michail Antonio, congratulations. You deserved it, I’m happy and I’m hoping you can score many, many more because you are really good.

“You have an extraordinary, atypical physique. We always say that when a striker is built like that, he can be the team’s whole forward line. I’m not saying he’s the best player in the world, but no one else does it like him.

“He’s not the static type of player that waits for the ball to come to him or comes towards it to hold up the play, he’s the type of player who makes sacrifices and opens up the play across the whole width and depth of the pitch, putting pressure on the defenders with those runs in behind, and then running after them.

“He’s really tough to shift and to move. Besides, he suffered with injuries in the past. I wanted to sign him at Swindon in 2011.

“Well, I really could see into the future – although at the time he was a strong and powerful winger, then he morphed into a striker as years went by.

“Really, really well done. I’m hoping for many more goals those you scored last night.”

e those you scored last night.”

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Hugh Southon is a lifelong Iron and the founding editor of ClaretandHugh. He is a national newspaper journalist of many years experience and was Bobby Moore's 'ghost' writer during the great man's lifetime. He describes ClaretandHugh as "the Hammers daily newspaper!"

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