Announcing Palace's LOADED Goal of the Month for August!
What a way to announce yourself! Toby Williams’ spectacular halfway-line strike on his competitive Under-18s debut has been named the LOADED Goal of the Month for August!
Introduced midway through the second-half against West Ham United, with the score locked at 1-1, Williams made an instant impact, seeing a shot parried into the six-yard area before AJ Greaves followed up to put the Young Eagles 2-1 ahead.
But the striker had one more moment of magic to come…
With the clock ticking into the fifth minute of added time, a long throw saw the ball eventually drop to Williams just yards inside the West Ham half.
Spotting the home ‘keeper off his line, he launched an audacious effort over his head and into the net to round off a remarkable introduction to competitive U18s football.
It proved to be the final action of the match, sealing a hard-fought 3-1 victory for Javier Alonso’s side as Palace began their 2026/27 Premier League South campaign – the top level of U18 football for Category One academies – in style.
“I’m in shock, really. I’m speechless, to be honest,” Williams said upon receiving the award. “I had an idea I was going to win, but I’m very grateful. Thank you.”
Talking through the goal, he added: “Credit to Donte [Martin]. He said, ‘Look at the ‘keeper,’ so then I just smacked it. If it went in, it went in – and it did!”
This month's LOADED Goal of the Month trophy was awarded by an internal panel.