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It’s always delightful when someone sends you a good goal, especially so when it’s one from women’s football — a sport that needs its drum banging particularly loudly.
The latest came from Portsmouth Women’s Hannah Haughton, doing some neat ball juggling before firing the ball into the top corner. The difference is that Haughton is a goalkeeper. And wasn’t wearing any shoes. And didn’t really mean to do it.
�� Quite simply ������������������������ from Hannah Haughton
�� Our number one scored this rocket in @EngBeachSoccer's 3-1 victory over Russia today#Pompeypic.twitter.com/PPzBXSpUkJ
It’s not the most propitious build-up: Haughton takes a touch out her feet and the ball becomes lodged in the sand. The shuffle to adjust her body position isn’t especially conventional — a different kind of agility is required when the pitch comprises entirely of ever-changing mounds and ridges — but her final touch is delicious. The flick and three kick-ups that precede it embody the gleeful abandon and invention needed to make the grade in beach soccer, especially when goalkeepers only have four seconds with the ball regardless of where they are on the pitch.