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Shane Long sets record with fastest-ever Premier League goal

Southampton’s Shane Long has put his name in the record books with the fastest goal in Premier League history.

Long scored after just 7.69 seconds in a 1-1 draw at Watford on Tuesday (local time). Australian Mark Viduka’s strike for Leeds in 2001 is now the fifth fastest.

The 32-year-old Long wrote his name in the record books on Tuesday when he charged down a Craig Cathcart clearance before running through on goal and lobbing the ball calmly over goalkeeper Ben Foster.

He snatched the record from former Tottenham Hotspur defender Ledley King, who scored after 9.82 seconds against Bradford in 2000.

Former Socceroos star Viduka needed just 11.9 seconds to score the opener for Leeds against Charlton during the 2000-01 campaign.

Long claimed he did not know he had set a new record.

“It’s a record, is it?” he told Sky Sports News.

“Straight from the kick-off we wanted to put them under pressure. Ninety nine times out of a hundred you block it and it doesn’t work, but this time it did.

“It’s nice to have a record like that, but it would have been nicer if it was the winning goal.”

Southampton is on 37 points, six ahead of 18th-placed Cardiff City, which occupies the final relegation slot, with three games remaining.

It should be enough for the side to remain in the Premier League, especially after 17th-placed Brighton lost 1-0 at Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday to fall three points behind Southampton.

But the reaction of the Saints players, who fell to the floor at the final whistle, reflected the bitter blow of conceding an Andre Gray goal in the 90th minute.

-AAP

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