ARE LEICESTER TOP? YES NDIDI!
BUT PRESSURE MOUNTS ON LAMPARD AFTER LOSS
FA CUP 3RD ROUND SOUTHAMPTON 2 SHREWSBURY 0
A PLACE IN round four for Southampton and a performance to lift the spirits of Shrewsbury’s recovering manager Steve Cotterill. Twenty-four hours after Ralph Hasenhuttl said life would go on if Southampton lost Danny Ings, who wants a return to a Champions League club, it was perhaps timely that two of their young hopefuls, Caleb Watts and matchwinner Dan N’Lundulu played a key role in edging them through to host Arsenal on Saturday lunchtime. League One Shrewsbury — missing Cotterill who remained in hospital but out of intensive care after being badly-hit by Covid — proved stubborn opponents. Despite their recent problems, Shrewsbury, who only returned to training on Friday, and had not played since December 29, performed well. This game was rearranged after a Covid outbreak at Shrewsbury which affected 20 people at the club, including Cotterill. Southampton gave bows to academy graduates Watts and Kgaogelo Chauke and a full debut for N’Lundulu up front. Australian midfielder Watts in particular looked comfortable. He was heavily involved, including the opening goal when he kept James WardProwse’s long ball alive before N’Lundulu opened his Southampton account. While the lead remained one Shrewsbury still had hope and Harrison Chapman fired a warning.
Matija Sarkic stopped Jack Stephens scoring with an excellent close-range stop and then denied Watts a deserved debut goal before Aaron Pierre hacked the rebound off the line to prevent what would have been an unlucky own goal. But captain Ward-Prowse struck with a minute left, whipping in a free-kick. Hasenhuttl was full of praise for his younger players. ‘Every young lad did a good job,’ he told BT Sport. ‘You could see in the dressing room that they were a little bit nervous. But they have to be brave, they know what they had to do and it was a good first game for them.’ Of the Arsenal assignment, Hasenhuttl added: ‘It will be a little bit tougher. But for us it is a chance to step into the next round.’