Ryan’s so mighty says boss Martin

RUSSELL MARTIN admitted Ryan Fraser has done everything possible to start for Southampton after his sensational performance.

Fraser scored twice and set up another for Sekou Mara as Saints, for whom Che Adams rounded off the scoring, strolled into the fourth round and went 19 games unbeaten in all competitions.

The Scotland international has been forced to wait for his chances after arriving on loan from Newcastle but with injuries to Kamaldeen Sulemana and Samuel Edozie, he got Martin’s attention at the right time.

Martin said: “He was really good, brilliant. He has such an amazing attitude and is a good example for the young boys.

“He’s been great coming off the bench recently, now Sam Edozie’s got an injury so Ryan has put himself in the frame to play from the start. As long as he brings what he does all the time then he will be a big player.

“He maybe hasn’t started as many games as people may have thought or what he’d like but he’s been a huge player for us.”

Walsall boss Mat Sadler said: “We were in the game in the first 15 minutes of the second half.

“They are a fantastic team and I’m glad we don’t have to play them every week. We’ve seen Championship sides blown away by them so we were fully aware of the task.

“I wanted my team to give a good account of themselves and they did.

“We grew into the game and it was fantastic to see, but we didn’t score when we needed to. We had three good chances and we didn’t take any.”

SOUTHAMPTON: Lumley 7; Holgate 7, Harwood-bellis 7 (Adams (66) 6), Stephens 7, Meghoma 6; Charles 7, Smallbone 7, Alcaraz 8, Amo-ameyaw 6 (Bragg (84) 6), Fraser 9, Mara 7 (Dibling (76) 6) WALSALL: Smith 6; Okagbue 6, Farquharson 5, Daniels 5 (Adegboyega (77) 5); Knowles 5, Hutchinson 6, Comley 6, Earing 6 (Allen (76) 5), Gordon 5; Johnson 5 (Foulkes (86) 5); James-taylor 5 STAR MAN: Ryan Fraser – Composed finish for both his goals and set up Mara’s as well. REF: David Webb 7