Hilarious moment Adam Armstrong took his shirt off and prematurely celebrated Southampton's play-off final victory over Leeds... after thinking that the referee had blown for full-time

Southampton's play-off final matchwinner Adam Armstrong was hilariously caught prematurely celebrating their return to the Premier League on Sunday afternoon.

The Saints booked their place in the top-flight next season after triumphing 1-0 over Daniel Farke's Leeds United - thanks to a first-half strike from Armstrong. 

The 27-year-old picked up his 24th goal of the 2023-24 season after running through and smashing his effort in the bottom corner of the goal after 25 minutes.

Tensions were for the remainder of the match and, in the final moments, Armstrong mistakenly thought the officials had blown for full-time. 

In a clip that appeared on X, the Saints star could be seen taking his shirt off, running towards their fans and pumping his fists in the air - before realising the whistle had gone for a foul.

Armstrong quickly turned around and put his shirt back on before playing out the final moments of the clash. 

The forward's mishap is somewhat understandable given that their were only nine minutes added, yet, the match reached the 101st minute due to further delays. 

Armstrong's first-half strike secured a tense 1-0 victory for Saints at Wembley and crucially earned them an unparalleled £180million payday.

The striker timed his run to perfection to meet Will Smallbone's threaded pass and tucked his 24th - and most important - goal of the season into the far corner.

Leeds pushed for an equaliser after the interval but Crysencio Summerville and Willy Gnonto squandered golden opportunities to salvage their top-flight dream.

Substitute Daniel James then clattered a powerful effort off the crossbar seven minutes from time and saw a later effort saved as the Whites piled on the pressure. 

Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, Armstrong said: 'I don't know what to say. It's what we've been working for all year, we know how good the Championship has been this year.

'What a way to go up! I saw the space in behind [for the goal] and I knew if I put it across goal it was going to go in, so it was a nice one.

'It means everything. The gaffer and his staff came in in pre-season and put a marker down of what they wanted to see, and look at this. 

'This is why we're footballers, we want to be involved in the biggest games.'

Only 12 months ago, Southampton, owned by Serbian media mogul Dragan Solak, had finished bottom of the Premier League, 11 points adrift of safety. 

Leeds had also tumbled into the Championship after finishing 19th. 

Both clubs were forced to settle for the play-offs this season, however, despite them striving for the automatic spots. Leeds finished third ahead of fourth-placed Saints.