It was a Euros to remember for Hannah Hampton. Having been ushered in as Mary Earps’ replacement, the pressure could’ve easily got the better of the Chelsea shot-stopper.
However, in the spirit of the Lionesses, Hampton rose to the challenge and made herself one of England’s most dependable players. Her importance to the side was best displayed in the final, when, after a testing 120 minutes against world champions Spain, she kept her cool and saved two spot-kicks in the penalty shootout.
It gave team-mate Chloe Kelly the chance to seal back-to-back European Championship wins for the Lionesses, with the Arsenal star making no mistake from 12 yards. But almost two weeks on from the memorable win in Basel, Hampton has revealed she deployed somewhat of a dirty tactic to get the better of her Spanish counterparts.
In an interview with talkSPORT, the shot-stopper claims she threw the water bottle belonging to opposite number Cata Coll into the crowd. The drinking vessel contained information about England’s penalty takers, with Coll forced to go off memory instead.
Explaining her tactics, Hampton said: “The Spanish keeper had it on her bottle. So I thought when she was going in goal I’ll just pick it up and throw it into the English fans so she can’t have it.”
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By contrast, Hampton opted to strap her notes to her arm. She continued: “I never put it on a bottle because anyone can do that, so that’s why I put it on my arm. It wasn’t hard, when she’s in the goal it’s on its own isn’t it? You just pick it up?
“When she saw my bottle in there instead, mine’s blank but it has the same sponsors and stuff so I just put mine in there, chucked hers in with the fans and she had an empty bottle. She was walking back and I was walking the other way and she was so confused, I was trying so hard not to burst out laughing.”
It’s a move that worked a treat, given England netted three of their five penalties. On the shootout itself, Hampton added: “I was probably more comfortable in the fact that I knew we’d practised penalties since that first one so I knew we’d put a few more in the back of the net.
“That Sweden one was traumatic for everyone. It was horrendous. I just kept thinking every time we missed ‘I’m not going to save every single one’ we had a bit of luck with the post, with putting it over the bar.”