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Nottingham Post
Nottingham Post
Sport
Oliver King

Ruben Rodrigues explains 'Love Island' inspired celebration following Notts County victory

Love Island fever has swept the nation with the ninth series of the reality show hitting our screens earlier this month, and it seems to have made quite the impression on Notts County star, Ruben Rodrigues.

The Magpies midfielder was on hand to deliver a record-breaking win for his side, with two penalties either side of half-time seeing Luke Williams' side earn a 2-1 win over Solihull Moors after a poor first-half performance.

While some celebrations this season have caught the eye with Quevin Castro's acrobatics in particular, this was one of the more peculiar celebrations Notts fans have witnessed this campaign.

READ MORE: Luke Williams details half time team talk following Notts County record win

As the 26-year-old stepped up and fired the ball into the roof of the net, Rodrigues celebrated his 11th goal of the campaign by performing a handstand in front of the travelling supporters.

What was even more surprising was to see central defender Aden Baldwin also perform the same move as his team-mate, with Rodrigues revealing the reasoning behind his unusual choice of celebration.

"It's really weird to talk about it," said Rodrigues.

"Myself, (Frank) Vinny, and Aden watch Love Island together, and every time during the break we just start breakdancing for some reason.

"Vinny was doing the handstand and we were doing all sorts of Tik Tok dances and then we kept doing the handstand for some reason.

"On the way here, Vinny said we should do the handstand if one of us scores, we should get together and do the handstand.

"Of course for my first penalty, I was not going to do it with the game at 1-1 because we have to go on and try and win the game.

"But the goal came, I did the handstand then I saw that Aden did it too."

And it turns out that Baldwin also had a big influence in the second spot-kick that sent Notts back to the summit of the National League.

In a much improved second-half display, the visitors got the break their performance merited when Matty Palmer was fouled inside the area following a quick corner routine, much to the dismay of the Solihull players and manager Neal Ardley on the touchline.

The Moors players surrounded referee Lewis Smith after awarding the penalty with captain Callum Howe awarded a yellow card for his protests.

While many players would have been focused on the situation around them, Rodrigues revealed the decision of his central defender may have helped him fire home his second of the evening.

"It took a while to be fair because Matty went down and everyone went to Matty, then Aden got me a bit out of the way and told me to focus on the penalty.

"To be fair it was a good shout, so when I was walking to the penalty spot I was thinking about what I was going to do.

"At the last moment, I went with a shot, it went high so when it goes high it is always a bit of a risk because if it goes too high you don't get the goal - but it went in and we have won the game."

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