THAT’S DAN AND DUSTED
But Shrews effort is tonic for Cotterill
SOUTHAMPTON 2 SHREWSBURY 0
STEVE COTTERILL watched from his hospital bed as Shrewsbury put up a gallant display – but in the end it was not enough.
Premier League Southampton booked a fourth-round clash with Arsenal on Saturday lunchtime at St Mary’s thanks to youngster Dan N’Lundulu’s neat early goal and James Ward Prowse’s second late on.
Shrewsbury boss Cotterill, 56, only came out of intensive care on Sunday after suffering a nasty bout of coronavirus.
His men, 17th in League One, were playing for the first time since December 29 after their entire squad were hit by the virus.They had only returned to training on Friday.
But in all honesty they never really threatened an upset.
Former England Under-16 forward N’Lundulu, 21, sent Saints on their way in the 16th minute, on his full debut for the club.
The French-born striker, of Congolese descent, is yet another promising product of the famed Saints academy, having moved to this country at a young age. Saints manager Ralph Hasenhuttl also had his brush with the virus recently.
Saints, who gave three players their full debuts against the League One strugglers, as expected dominated, as Shane Long saw his shot pushed over by goalkeeper Matija Sarkic early on.
Harry Chapman then tested Fraser Forster but it didn’t take long for N’Lundulu, who had come off the bench seven times before last night but never started, to make his impact. Ward-Prowse sent a probing ball into the area, another debutant in Caleb Watts neatly controlled the ball on his chest, and laid it off for the youngster to drill home low past Sarkic.
Ward-Prowse then curled a free-kick just over the angle as the home side pressed, but Shrewsbury were not idle – and ShaunWhalley fired just over.
Shrewsbury sat deep for long periods and Saints found it hard to break them down.
Sarkic produced a fine save from Jack Stephens and then the Shrews keeper pushed away Watts’ drive, but Aaron Pierre somehow managed to clear off the line after the the ball ball bounced off him.
Hasenhuttl’s youngsters, N’Lundulu, Watts and Kgagelo Chauke, were lively. But Shrewsbury refused to lie down.
Finally, in the final minute, the Shrewsbury defence cracked again as Ward-Powse curled in a glorious free-kick.
SOUTHAMPTON Forster 7; Valery 7, Bednarek 7, Stephens 7, Vokins 7; Chauke 7 (Armstrong 79), Ward-Prowse 8, Diallo 7, Watts 7 (Jankewitz 85); Long 6 (Adams 79), N’Lundulu 8.
Goals: N’Lundulu 16, Ward-Prowse 89.
SHREWSBURY (3-4-1-2): Sarkic 6; Pennington 7 (Cummings 85), Ebanks-Landell 6, Pierre 6; Williams 6, Norburn 7 (Edwards 72), Vela 7, Golbourne 6 (Sears 72); Chapman 6 (Tracey 62 6); Whalley 7, Udoh 6 (Pyke 72).