Adam Armstrong scored the goal that fired Southampton back into the Premier League in May – but he feared becoming a meme for an incident shortly before the final whistle.
After 101 minutes of action in the play-off final against Leeds, referee John Brooks blew his whistle, and Armstrong removed his shirt, twirling it above his head as he charged off to celebrate with the Southampton fans.
There was one problem, though: Brooks had actually blown for a foul to Leeds, not for full time. Armstrong sheepishly looked around, put his shirt back on and moved back into position.
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“I went too early, didn’t I?” the striker laughs as he talks to FourFourTwo. “I’d looked at the scoreboard, we were past the amount of time the ref said he was going to play, then he blew his whistle. I was praying they wouldn’t score from that free kick. I would have been a meme for years…”
The incident went viral anyway, but Armstrong didn’t care by then. Leeds didn’t score from that free kick – within seconds, the 27-year-old could indeed celebrate promotion, and the goal that made the headlines.
“I’ve never had a feeling like that in football,” he said of victory, having slotted home the only goal of the game after just 24 minutes. “Will Smallbone slipped me through – I wasn’t sure if I was offside or not, because there was VAR in the final. I just thought I’d hit it as hard as I could across the goal, and hope it went in.”
With 85,000 in the stands, and a whole season at stake, his calmness made the difference. “They’re pressure moments – before the game, the atmosphere gave me goosebumps,” Armstrong explains.
“But everything goes out of the window during the 90 minutes, you concentrate on what you’ve got to do. To score the winner at Wembley, it’s what kids dream of. It’s hard to put into words the feelings we went through that day. Maybe nothing will top that.”
Armstrong was speaking to FFT at a St Mary’s event to model the club’s new kit – Southampton have linked up with PUMA on a four-year deal, with bespoke kits for all teams at the club, from the men’s and women’s first teams through to the academy.
“The kit is lovely, very nice, nice colours, nice texture,” said Armstrong, who’s also a PUMA ambassador and wears their boots.
“The main aim this season is to stay up. This is a Premier League club in my opinion, and we’ve got to show that on the pitch. If we stick together, and we keep sticking to what we know, I’m sure we’ll be fine.”
For more details on PUMA's latest offerings, visit uk.puma.com/uk/en/sports/football
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