Having finally been handed his Football League debut six years ago, it is fair to say that Crystal Palace winger Yannick Bolasie has has to do things the hard way on his journey to the top.
An impressive hat-trick in the Eagles' 4-1 victory against Sunderland yesterday afternoon saw him become the first player in the South London club's Premier League history to achieve that feat, and all inside the space of just 11 second-half minutes.
The DR Congo star will now be hoping to push on and taste further success for both club and country in the coming years, after finally achieving his dream of making an impact on the big stage.
Here, Sports Mole takes a closer look back at Bolasie's afternoon as Palace continued their resurgence under the tenure of Alan Pardew.
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Attacking play
Fielded on the left side of a front three, joining Glenn Murray and Wilfried Zaha in attack, Bolasie was tasked with providing energy down the flank in order to create openings for his side at the Stadium of Light.
He did exactly that, probing away on both sides and creating two openings for his teammates across the duration of the afternoon. Setting up goals is something that the 25-year-old has added to his game as this season has progressed, bagging three assists in the past two months, compared to the same number across the previous six months.
As a fast-footed winger, complimented perfectly by teammate Zaha on the opposite flank, Bolasie attempts to trick his opponents into submission, as witnessed by his seven successful take-ons in the North East yesterday.
That alone sounds impressive, but when you factor in that two of these also came inside the box, you get a sense that this is a man who is more than confident in his own ability.
It was his three goals which truly made him stand out this weekend, however, opening his account by stabbing the ball beyond Costel Pantilimon in the Sunderland goal just a few minutes after seeing his deflected effort tucked home by an in-form Murray.
His second strike, a delicate chip over the reach of the Black Cats stopper, came about following another long ball over the top of the opposition defence, as Palace showed that they are not scared to remain in attack mode.
Bolasie highlighted a different side to his game with the goal which sealed his treble, keeping his cool to round Pantilimon and tucking the ball into an empty net.
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Still more to come
Defensively, too, the stats show that Bolasie helped his side out when it came to protecting their lead. His two successful tackles close to the half-way line helped break up opposition attacks, while he was also happy to concede free kicks when danger arose.
Of course, this is not to suggest that the DR Congo international has reached his peak. Anything but, in fact, with yesterday ending a barren run of seven months without a goal.
Bolasie must add goals to his game if he is to push on and establish himself in this Palace side which appears to be going place under the leadership of Pardew.
It was the former Newcastle United chief himself who admitted after the game that he still expects more from the wideman, telling BT Sport: "I don't think he's scored many goals in the Premier League.
"Someone has just said to me he's the first Crystal Palace player to get a Premier League hat-trick, and that is a surprise when you think of Glenn Murray and the strikers we have had, so he has got a nice little tag to his name now.
"Now he needs to build on that. Two of those finishes were top-drawer. He was a problem, I thought, in the first half and it was just getting the moment, seizing it. The second goal was just power and pace and a clever finish. His second goal was a great goal. He was calm and dictated the moment."
This pace, power and calmness in front of goal is something that he must consistently show to improve his goalscoring and assists tally in the closing weeks of the season. Should he do that, then he may be scoring hat-tricks at an even higher level this time next year.
For a player who was starting out at Hillingdon Borough less than a decade ago, that really would be some achievement.
Daniel Lewis
