HUGHES’ SAINTS GO MARCHING IN
He’s into last four for first time as a boss
It SAYS everything about the modern managerial madness that Mark Hughes may become the first boss to preside over one Premier League side’s exit from the FA Cup at the hands of League two opposition and end up winning it with another team in the same season.
the new Southampton manager had certainly put Stoke City’s exit at Coventry well behind him by last night, though. the paltry two-month contract he has signed doesn’t delight this proud individual, who does not consider himself a firefighter.
‘It’s not going to be easy, it’s a short-term deal and I’ve got to make the best of that,’ he said. Yet the turnaround he instituted after 45 minutes of struggle illustrated the qualities he brings.
the way his charges were initially dominated by Wigan encapsulated what happens to a group of players when self-belief has drained away. But the transformation was palpable after Hughes’s half-time conversation with them.
Southampton began occupying Wigan territory — remembering who they are supposed to be — and, as the sun set on the League One side’s extraordinary Cup run, we saw the swagger flooding back. ‘A bit of positivity and validation,’ said Hughes, in that corporate speak he sometimes likes to use.
there was substitute Cedric Soares, running 102 yards in the 91st minute to score his first goal for the club, nearly three years after joining them. And there was Nathan Redmond, a Hughes substitute, causing Wigan untold trouble with his pace.
the recent diminution of Redmond — who is a very good player — says everything about Southampton’s punctured spirit. But his performance would have given the watching West Ham manager David Moyes cause for worry as he drove away from here last night.
the clash of Hughes’s and Moyes’s teams in east London a week on Saturday has now assumed monumental importance in the relegation dogfight.
It could have been a very different story had Wigan only seized their first-half chances. there was the full gamut of northern hospitality for their visitors — bitter cold, a swirling easterly wind, a bumpy, litter-strewn pitch and two ‘welcome to Wigan’ challenges for Guido Carrillo and Dusan tadic.
Hughes braved the weather fullon — neither gloves nor hat for him, while Wigan manager Paul Cook went for both — but there was no disguising what a treacherous quarterfinal assignment this was for the side 29 places higher in the football pyramid.
Wigan are not a prolific side, yet they defend for their lives and can mix their game up — playing out from the back when the moment presents. Full back Nathan Byrne was an unexpected creative nexus. the tally of 10 corners and eight shots in the first half told its own story and the break couldn’t come soon enough for the visitors. Unfortunately from a Wigan perspective, striker Will Grigg was not on fire. He was presented with three chances. two flew across him in the six-yard box and the third — a bobbling ball which momentarily seemed there to hit — slipped away, too. taken with a shot that Gary Roberts levered over from a good scoring position, this was profligacy Cook knew might come back to bite his side. ‘We were fearful at half-time,’ a desperately disappointed Cook said. ‘We played so well in that first half and didn’t have hold of the game.’
the breakthrough came by subtle process of cause and effect. Southampton’s supporters rallied behind their side’s new resolve.
Byrne was spooked into handing Manolo Gabbiadini a gilt- edged chance with a pass directly to the unmarked striker in the Wigan box. And though goalkeeper Christian Walton was quickly out to douse that fire, and palmed away Pierre- Emile Hojbjerg’s bullet header, the home side were clearly rattled.
their defence hesitated fatally when Hojbjerg met tadic’s corner just beyond the hour.
the Dane’s connection was poor but the ball disappeared through a crowded area into the net. It was his first goal for Southampton, too. the quality of Cedric’s own angular finish beyond Walton, at the death, reflected the nascent belief. Hughes’s reward is his first Wembley cup appearance in 14 years as a club manager — where his side will play Chelsea, with whom he lifted the FA Cup as a player in 1997. But Premier League survival remains the priority by some distance.
Not since Billy McNeill was at the helm of relegated Manchester City and Aston Villa during the 1986-87 season has one manager presided over two sides dropping from the top flight in a campaign.
With Stoke and Southampton still in deep trouble, it is an ignominy Hughes will be desperate to avoid.
WIGAN ATHLETIC (4-2-3-1): Walton 8.5; Byrne 7.5 (Hunt 81min), Dunkley 7, Burn 7, Elder 6.5; Morsy 6, Roberts 6.5 (Colclough 65, 6); Massey 7 (Powell 65, 6.5), Power 6.5, Jacobs 6; Grigg 6. Subs not used: Jones, Perkins, Bruce, Fulton. Booked: Dunkley, Burn. Manager: Paul Cook 6. SOUTHAMPTON (4-2-3-1): McCarthy 6; Soares 7, Stephens 6, Hoedt 6, Bertrand 6.5; Hojbjerg 7, Lemina 5.5; Tadic 5.5, Boufal 5 (Redmond 65, 7), Carrillo 5.5 (Long 82); Gabbiadini 5.5 (Romeu 88). Subs not used: Yoshida, Ward-Prowse, Sims, Forster. Scorers: Hojbjerg 62, Cedric 90+1. Booked: None. Manager: Mark Hughes 7.5. Referee: Michael Oliver 6.5. Attendance: 17,110. Magic of the Cup 2/5: Ground not even full. Didn’t feel like a quarter-final, despite Wigan’s heroics to get this far.