Quietly does it but Martin’s Saints in promotion chase
SOUTHAMPTON are finally showing their teeth in their bid to chase down Leicester and Ipswich at the top of the Championship.
Saints have quietly been putting together their best run for 39 years but by demolishing 10-man Blackburn they proved they could also be ruthless.
They were patient before Samuel Edozie poked in his second goal of the week just before half-time, before running riot after Callum Brittain’s brainless two yellow cards.
Russell Martin’s men have been playing catch-up after a four-game losing streak in autumn but the former Swansea boss is hoping things are starting to rev up.
“We’re not even halfway through the season and there is so much more room to grow,” said Martin.
“Hopefully we can have more days like today but even when we have only been winning by one goal, in our eyes it has been convincing.
“You can’t always win convincingly, not even the teams at the top are leaving teams in their wake.
“I don’t know how you define a convincing win but we have got the goals we felt have been coming.
“We have been punished a couple of times for not scoring the goals but today we were relentless.
“The league is so tight and the goals might be really important at the end of the season.
“That is five wins at home in a row and that is really amazing for the players. If we keep putting in performances like that we’ll see where it takes us.”
Edozie, on his first start since October, poked Saints ahead before Brittain kicked the ball away, having already had his name taken for a shirt pull.
The impeccable Stuart Armstrong slotted in a second and even though Carlos Alcaraz’s Panenkastyle penalty sailed over, Sekou Mara and the atoning Argentine sprinkled sugar on the result.
Rovers boss Jon Dahl Tomasson admitted the game totally changed on the red card and that his midfielder had apologised.
The Dane said: “Callum apologised to his teammates in the dressing room immediately.
“The game totally changed after the red card and being a player behind is difficult.
“We were still in it after the first goal but after the second booking the game is over.
“It is a disappointing day. It is always going to be a difficult game against a team that is a Premier League squad.
“We knew that but we came with the intention of winning the game.”
SOUTHAMPTON: Bazunu 6; Bree 7, Harwood-bellis 6 (Stephens (65) 6), Bednarek 6, Walker-peters 6; Downes 7 (Charles (65) 6), Smallbone 6, S Armstrong 9 (Alcaraz (76) 6); Edozie 8 (Fraser (65) 7), Aribo 7, A Armstrong 6 (Mara (76) 6) BLACKBURN: Wahlstedt 7; Hill 6, Carter 6, S Wharton 5, Pickering 5; Tronstad 6 (Leonard (58) 6), A Wharton 5 (Travis (70) 6); Moran 6 (Garrett (58) 5), Szmodics 5, Brittain 4; Sigurdsson 5 STAR MAN: Stuart Armstrong – made things tick before classy goal settled it. REF: Graham Scott 7