PELL GETS MORE HELL STAT ATTACK

Boo boys out for boss Maur

THERE’S no pleasing some.

Southampton secured their first win in 10 games – yet fans still turned on boss Mauricio Pellegrino.

A goal from James Ward-Prowse ensured no FA Cup disaster but the jury is still out on the Saints manager.

When he substituted Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg for Mario Lemina in the 79th minute their 2,000 travelling fans sang, “You don’t know what you’re doing”.

What would they have sung if Saints had lost? It was a close-run thing because Fulham rallied late on.

But Pellegrino remained defiant. He said: “We needed fresh people and I made a decision. You can’t make everyone happy.

“We all have different opinions. I make decisions that are the best for the team, not for the fans and I am not upset. It is life.

“Hopefuly, I can bring in someone who can make us stronger in the transfer window. Theo Walcott? He is a good player but for us it it is not easy.

“It’s nice to get a win, it’s been a while. Hopefully we can use this as a base to go forward.

“Fulham were a good team technically but we competed well.”

Fulham boss Slavisa Jokanovic demands new players but his requests are being ignored, leaving both club and manager in limbo.

Jokanovic said: “I think we played a good game but they showed in one situation the difference in divisions. We create chances in the Championship but when we played against a Premier League side it is different.

“The quality is different and it showed we have what we have. It is about the next step.”

He refused to answer questions on the future of

£25million Spurs target Ryan Sessegnon. “This is not the right time,” he said.

Saints needed a lift, having won only times four all season and arrived on the back of a run of nine games without a win.

And they thought that one had arrived when Shane Long had the ball in the back of the net.

He had gone almost a year without a goal before notching against Crystal Palace in midweek.

But he was denied a second goal in a week when his

10th-minute effort was ruled offside.

It was a decision that you would not have wanted your life to be decided on.

Saints, however, managed to do it right on the half hour when a long, raking pass from full-back SOUTHAMPTON have progressed past lower league opponents in 18 of their last 19 FA Cup ties, although yesterday’s victory was the first time in three games that they have avoided a replay. Maya Yoshida was collected by Sofiane

Boufal.

The tricky Morocco star saw his pass bounce off

Fulham skipper Kevin McDonald and land sweetly for James Ward-Prowse to score.

Fulham survived a penalty scare when Stefan Johansen looked to have hooked down a Ward-Prowse cross with his arm five minutes later.

After the break, home keeper David Button saved from Hojbjerg in the 53rd minute as the Cottagers struggled for a cutting edge to peg back their Premier League opponents.

But Saints’ Jack Stephens headed on to the crossbar from almost under it in the 74th minute after Long flicked on Ward-Prowse’s corner.

Then Denis Odoi should have equalised for Fuham two minutes later but ballooned his shot over from eight yards.