I dreamed of scoring at St James’ Park – now I want to cause Newcastle nightmares by netting winner for Southampton

ADAM ARMSTRONG grew up dreaming of scoring in front of the famous Gallowgate End.

Today he looks to finally achieve that – only this time he hopes nobody wearing black and white will be celebrating except maybe his dad.

Reuters

Adam Armstrong fired Southampton to promotion at Wembley in May[/caption]

Reuters

The boyhood Newcastle fan came through the academy into the first-team at St. James’[/caption]

Instagram @adamarma

Armstrong, childhood sweetheart Rebecca and their young boy are loving life on the South Coast[/caption]

PA

The hotshot is now looking to realise a life-long ambition on Saturday[/caption]

Armstrong was born in Newcastle on February 10, 1997 and nine years later joined the Magpies’ academy.

He made his debut as a 17-year-old but after loans at Coventry, Barnsley, Bolton and Blackburn, he joined Rovers permanently six years ago.

The forward readily admits that he left his hometown a boy.

Now he returns very much the man in the eyes of Southampton supporters after his goal at Wembley against Leeds in the play-off final secured promotion in May.

‘Arma’ and his school sweetheart Rebecca tied the knot in 2021 and a year later welcomed their first child, baby boy Axel who has already got “a little” Geordie twang, into the world.

And hotshot says he and his family, including their French bulldog, are loving life on the South Coast and that leaving Newcastle was a blessing in disguise.

“100 per cent,” he exclusively told Sun Sport. “Newcastle thought that it was right for me to move on to get games and I was down for that.

“Leaving definitely helped me grow up massively. With the different experiences at the clubs that I have been at, I’m 27 now and enjoying life and that’s when you get the best out of me.

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“With the different experiences at the clubs that I have been at, I’m 27 now and enjoying life and that’s when you get the best out of me.

“I’m now just looking forward to this weekend and can’t wait to get going this season.

“I’m now just looking forward to this weekend and can’t wait to get going this season.

“I was having a laugh with my mates ahead of the fixtures saying ‘I bet we get Newcastle away in the first game’ and it was crazy when it came out.

“I’ve played there a few times now with different clubs and it’s always nice to go back and see some familiar faces but the main thing is trying to get the win for Southampton.”

Armstrong, who cost Saints £15m from Rovers in 2021, goes back with his confidence sky-high following his Wembley exploits, something he admits that he is still struggling to take in.

He said: “That was surreal. My dad rang me the night before Wembley and I told him that I thought I was gonna score the winner.

“You always think these things but they usually don’t happen, and when I scored so early on I thought that there were gonna be more goals and it wasn’t going to be the winner.

“When that final whistle went it was the best feeling that I’ve ever had in football. To get back to the best league in the world knowing that I’d contributed was amazing.”

Speaking of fantasies, Armstrong, who scored for Rovers against Newcastle in 2019, is desperate to experience another one.

He said: “I’m yet to score at St James’ and being a fan growing up, it is every kids dream to score at the Gallowgate.

“If I could do that Saturday then I’d be over the moon and hopefully it would be the winner as well to get us off to a good start. That would be incredible.”

Armstrong was raised in the Chapel House area, five miles west of the city centre, and became hooked on the Magpies once his Newcastle-daft father Steve took him to SJP for Alan Shearer’s testimonial when he was nine.

These days Steve and his mum, Caroline, regularly travel the length and breadth of the country to watch their boy live.

Instagram @adamarma

Armstrong’s mother Caroline and dad Steve travel all over to support him[/caption]

Although he joked that he is not certain his dad will be celebrating if he achieves his life-long ambition.

Armstrong says: “They came to a lot of games last season and are going to try to get to every game this year.

“For Saturday, we’ve got a box in the home end and my dad will be in there shouting away and definitely supporting Southampton. Well, he says he is anyway…”

Armstrong’s Wembley winner took his career tally to 122 goals, but only four of them have come in the Premier League.

So does he feel he has something to prove to himself in the top-flight this term?

“I think you’ve always got to prove yourself as a footballer no matter what league you are in,” he said.

“It was kind of a different situation that last time I was in the Premier League with Saints, I wasn’t playing every week and in and out of the team.

“Different managers have different styles but this year I think will be much different.

“We’ve still got that buzz from last season and the squad is the tightest that I have seen since I’ve been here.

“We all get on well and when you take that onto the pitch then that just makes it better and hopefully we can take that on this season and be alright.”