Lewis Dobbin goal justifies Southampton start as West Ham's own striker woes exposed
Lewis Dobbin is finally up and running in a Southampton shirt.
The £9m summer buy would have been irritating a lot his new fanbase with his wastefulness in front of goal, but he has finally broken his Saints duck, as he instinctively prodded home Tonda Eckert and Co's third goal of the day at West Ham United.
Without this goal, a 3-2 win could've easily slipped out of the Saints' hands.
It'll be up to Dobbin to now kick on and grab more goals, as he is capable of going on a lengthy goalscoring run in the Championship...
Dobbin could now kick on
Last season in the second tier, Dobbin was a standout performer on loan with Preston North End.
Indeed, he would grab ten goals and eight assists in total in Championship action, and his goals would often come in pairs.
He would score against Sheffield United last October, and then follow that up with another memorable strike for the Lilywhites, when facing the Saints during the latter stages of the doomed Will Still reign.
In January this year, as well, he would grab two strikes on the bounce against Sheffield Wednesday and Bristol City, as he became a dependable source of goals for the now unemployed Paul Heckingbottom to rely on.
With Cyle Larin suffering from recurring injury issues, the hope will be that Dobbin can follow up his poacher's finish against the Hammers with another well-taken finish against Queens Park Rangers on Halloween, as Eckert might have to rely on the £9m attacker as his main marksman if the clinical Canadian remains out of the team.
While there will be plenty of optimism now in the air regarding Dobbin's stay on the South Coast, West Ham have several striker issues of their own to contend with.
West Ham have their own striker woes
It does feel a little silly to state that the Hammers have issues up top, considering they have scored a ridiculous 33 goals already this season in Championship action.
But, when you glance at their top goalscorer charts, there isn't a striking centre-forward sticking out.
Instead, Jarrod Bowen leads the way with a punishing six goals, with centre-back Konstantinos Mavropanos following closely behind with a very impressive five goals.
Unfortunately for the Hammers, Nuno Espirito Santo's striker options haven't been scoring goals for fun, as was evidenced in the barnstorming Saints clash.
Indeed, Jack Stephens and Keven Schlotterbeck managed to deal with Taty Castellanos rather smoothly, as the one-time Lazio striker couldn't find the back of the net from his minimal 23 touches of the ball.
He remains on one Championship goal for the season, having last scored in the brutal second tier back in September, when Nuno's men hammered Wrexham 6-0.
It will be intriguing to see who has scored the most goals for their respective sides when the 46-game marathon has concluded, with Dobbin certainly the more lively performer on Saturday, when putting his numbers side-by-side with the Argentine's.
Pablo Felipe is another goal-shy striker Nuno has on his books, as he also can only shout about one Championship strike.
It will be equally fascinating to see which team finishes higher up the league come the end of the gruelling season, away from their hit-and-miss personnel leading the line, with Southampton breathing down West Ham's neck, now, in their bid to disrupt the top two, after Saturday's statement win.
