Hearts loanee Stephen Humphrys wins SPFL Goal of the Season for his strike against Dundee United

Striker’s 60-yard effort is ranked best of the campaign.

Hearts loanee Stephen Humphrys has won Goal of the Season for his outrageous strike against Dundee United back in February. The forward has now returned to Wigan Athletic after his season-long loan was cut short, but he has a lasting memory from his time in Scotland.

The Scottish Professional Football League ranked Humphrys’ effort top in their Goal of the Season competition. Charlie Fox's volley for Queen's Park against Dundee in May came second, with Leon McCann's solo goal for Falkirk against Edinburgh City last November 12 finishing third.

Humphrys put Hearts 3-1 up against United by collecting the ball near his own penalty area in stoppage-time, holding off the challenge of former Hearts midfielder Arnaud Djoum, spotting the United goalkeeper Mark Birighitti off his goal line, and unleashing a 60-yard shot.

“Did I mean it? Of course I did,” said the Englishman at the time. “I saw the keeper off his line, I had just sliced one out of play two minutes before and I thought I’d better not do that again. So I carried it forward a little bit.

“I could hear the bench shouting on me to go to the corner. But I thought: ‘I’ve just sprinted forward, I’ve just sprinted back, now I’m sprinting forward again – I don’t fancy going all the way to the corner flag.’

“I had a look at the keeper, thought I would try my luck. It was one of them where, as soon as you hit it, you know straight away that it’s going in. It is by far the best goal of my career, definitely.”