Ex-Charlton Athletic star Clive Mendonca still holds a record that will never, ever be beaten | OneFootball

The former Addick will always have a place in English football's history books.

Former Charlton Athletic striker Clive Mendonca will always be remembered fondly at The Valley, and he holds a record that will never, ever be beaten.

The striker joined the Addicks from Grimsby Town in the summer of 1997 for a then club record fee of £700,000, before going on to score an impressive 45 goals in 96 appearances during his time at the club.

Supporters are always going to appreciate a centre-forward who finds the back of the net on a consistent basis, but the fact that Mendonca's goalscoring prowess contributed towards Charlton winning promotion to the Premier League in 1998 makes him a real fans' favourite.

Mendonca scored 28 goals during the Addicks' 1997/98 promotion-winning campaign, including a hat-trick against his boyhood club, Sunderland, in the play-off final.

The game finished 4-4 after extra time, before Mendonca converted his penalty during the shootout to help ensure that Alan Curbishley's side reached the top flight.

He also scored a hat-trick in the Premier League during a 5-0 win over Southampton on the opening day of the following season, but he will always be best remembered for his three goals at Wembley in what was probably the best play-off final of all time.

Charlton Athletic legend Clive Mendonca will always have a place in the history books

Mendonca's hat-trick against Sunderland in the 1998 play-off final means he will always have a place in English football's history books.

He will forever be the only player to have scored a hat-trick in a play-off final at the old Wembley Stadium before it was closed in 2000.

The play-offs were first introduced in 1987, and while the finals were conducted over two legs during the first three seasons, they have been decided by one-off matches since 1990.

That means Mendonca was the only player to score a hat-trick across ten years of play-off finals held at the old Wembley Stadium, and that is a record that will never be taken away from him.

Play-off finals returned to Wembley in 2007 following the reconstruction of the stadium, and it only took eight years for there to have been more play-off final hat-tricks scored at the new stadium than the old one.

Scott Sinclair scored three goals for Swansea City as they beat Reading to secure their place in the Premier League in 2011, while Jermaine Beckford hit a treble for Preston North End against Swindon Town as they won promotion to the Championship in 2015.

Mendonca looks back fondly on 1998 play-off triumph

Mendonca looks back fondly on his play-off final success with Charlton, even if it did come at the expense of Sunderland, the city he had moved to at the age of 2.

He looked back on his achievements in an interview with the Daily Mail ahead of the Addicks' League One play-off final victory over the Black Cats in 2019.

"I'm really, really proud," Mendonca said.

"That game was my defining moment, all them years of working hard, God repaid me that day.

"It was just unfortunate for me it was against Sunderland!"

The striker also explained the reason behind his iconic celebration after scoring in the penalty shootout.

"A trialist had got the guns out after scoring in training, just got dead excited. It was hilarious.

"Every time I scored, the lads said 'Get the guns out'. For some reason, I did it then for the first time."

Mendonca will always be remembered fondly at The Valley — he was inducted into the Charlton Athletic Hall of Fame in 2012 — and he will also forever be the only player to have scored a hat-trick in a play-off final at the old Wembley Stadium.