Saints alive!
WITH RECORD RUN ON BRINK OF COMING TO AN END ARMSTRONG LASHES HOME TO KEEP. . .
FOR those supporters in red and white who made the journey to Vicarage Road, relief was very much the emotion of the day. Southampton had been on the verge of being knocked out of the FA Cup fourth round by Championship rivals Watford — and seeing their record unbeaten run come to an end.
A week ago, the Saints broke a 103-year mark when they went unbeaten for the 22nd consecutive game. A run many of these fans may never again see in their lifetime.
All good things eventually come to an end and it very much looked that way until the 89th minute here yesterday.
Stuart Armstrong received the ball just outside the box. He lashed it into the bottom-left corner past goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann to rescue his team and the noise from the stands showed what this meant.
It masked the fact the visitors had been meek and poor. They created little goal-scoring opportunities, only switching on after four substitutions were made around the hour mark.
Manager Russell Martin will have walked away feeling like a lottery winner. ‘They’ve got an amazing mentality,’ he said of his team. ‘They were relentless in the second half. They won’t accept being beaten which is an amazing trait for any team to have.
‘We deserved at least that (draw). The goal was rubbish to concede, to give away a free-kick is disappointing.
‘There was a lot of disappointment at half-time. The guys who came on had a huge impact on the game. It was a proper cup tie.’
The winner of the replay between these two sides next month will face Liverpool. ‘There’s a huge incentive to play Liverpool away in Jurgen Klopp’s last season as manager, it’s a big incentive for anyone,’ he added.
The Saints fans had arrived in their droves and were in expectant mood. Rightly so, their teamhaving enjoyed an unbeaten stretch spanning over four months, since losing to Middlesbrough on September 23.
It has been a truly remarkable turnaround by Martin who was earmarked for the sack after four straight defeats in September. The fickle nature of football.
Yet, Watford took little notice of these numbers. The Saints had made nine changes, with Kyle Walker-Peters, who is admired by Arsenal, on the bench. So not full strength but, nevertheless, the Hornets were brilliant. They did everything, bar put the game out of reach. Yaser Asprilla gave Mason Holgate a torrid time on the left flank. But it was Matheus Martins who shone just as bright, as he time and again made inroads going forward.
‘We were solid, disciplined, wellorganised,’ said Watford manager Valerien Ismael: ‘The only thing was we need to learn to become more composed on the ball. If you want to become a top team, you need to control the ball more.’
Martins gave Watford the lead after five minutes, catching goalkeeper Joe Lumley off-guard with a free-kick that crept in at the near post. It was clever and precise. The opposite of Holgate, his lazy hack on Asprilla having handed the hosts the set-piece.
Later in the half, Lumley had a moment of madness. He raced out of the box and didn’t get the ball, yet the Hornets could not muster a goalbound shot.
The home side should have scored another by half-time when Vakoun Bayo muscled his way into the box but he fired wide.
Watford started the second period in the same vein. Asprilla danced down the left flank on many an occasion, providing service for his team-mates in the box. None could finish. It was no surprise to see him substituted on 62 minutes. He needed a rest.
It took the introductions of Will Smallbone, Ryan Fraser, Adam Armstrong and Stuart Armstrong on 63 minutes to kick the visitors into life. Martins had struck a post with a shot dug into the turf, which could have sealed the match, but Holgate had a strike saved at the other end.
Southampton’s renewed attacking vigour saw Stuart Armstrong receive, and take, his chance and the visitors almost won it when Taylor Harwood-Bellis saw his header from a corner saved by Bachmann in the 94th minute.