Lucy Staniforth was shown a red card for reportedly running the length of the pitch, Adebayor-style, to celebrate in front of a fan who had been taunting her all game, except that isn’t really an accurate description of what happened.

Lucy Staniforth of Birmingham City runs with the ball with pressure from Ramona Bachmann of Chelsea during the Barclays FA Women's Super League match between Birmingham City and Chelsea at Damson Park on November 24, 2019 in Solihull, United Kingdom.
SOLIHULL, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 24: Lucy Staniforth of Birmingham City runs with the ball with pressure from Ramona Bachmann of Chelsea during the Barclays FA Women’s Super League match between Birmingham City and Chelsea at Damson Park on November 24, 2019 in Solihull, United Kingdom. (Photo by Morgan Harlow/Getty Images)

As Birmingham beat Sunderland 1-0 on Sunday, Staniforth used the opportunity of scoring the late winner to really stick it to a fan who had reportedly been giving her serious grief for the whole game.

With smaller crowds and tighter grounds, individual abuse is hard to ignore in the women’s game and Staniforth couldn’t let this go.

While the Daily Telegraph reported, “Quite what led to Staniforth celebrating in front of a home fan, running the length of the pitch to do so, is unclear,” we are led to believe that it was the constant taunts from the fan, who was also removed from the ground at the request of the referee, that prompted the reaction.

It is also claimed that Staniforth also gave the V sign to the fan while swearing at them. Although the video below isn’t the clearest, it’s hardly the same sort of thing as Adebayor at all…