COMEBACK KINGS
DANNY LEADS WAY AS SAINTS WIN THRILLER FROM 2-0 DOWN
KEEP playing, keep playing,’ Nick Pope bellowed with 15 minutes to go, his encouragement to his Burnley team-mates echoing around this empty ground.
Few would have complained if both sides had done just that well beyond the time that remained such was the entertainment they served up at St Mary’s.
Few will have had this, a meeting between the teams who started 14th and 15th and had survival on the agenda, down as a cracker. But that is exactly what it was.
Five goals, four of them brilliantly taken, a thrilling comeback from 2-0 down, a sprinkle of VAR controversy and big contributions from both No 9s and both keepers.
Southampton edged it, the three points taking them to the brink of safety. It could easily have been Burnley or ended level.
Ralph Hasenhuttl said: ‘To turn it around when two down against this team, not a lot manage this. It was an important step against an opponent on the same level of you. Now we have three points more than them. It was a six-pointer and we took it.’
Southampton climb up to 13th, 10 points clear of the drop zone, and should now have another Premier League season to look forward to — along with their FA Cup semifinal against Leicester in a fortnight.
But for a while, it seemed they would end the day still looking over their shoulder.
Both sides returned refreshed after the international break and went for it in a wonderfully open game.
Chris Wood tested Fraser Forster inside 40 seconds and after 12 minutes Burnley, who carried a real threat every time they raided forward, went ahead.
Southampton looked to have escaped when referee Andre Marriner allowed play to carry on after Kyle Walker-Peters slid in on Erik Pieters after he crossed.
In this VAR age, though, nothing should be missed and Marriner pointed to the spot after being urged to review the incident.
Southampton had grounds for appeal themselves with Walker-Peters appearing to be pulled back by Pieters before the Burnley left back got to the byline.
Wood left the debating to others and smashed the spot-kick down the middle, scoring for the third successive game.
Burnley doubled their lead just before the half-hour, Matej Vydra brilliantly thumping past Forster after Wood added an assist to his goal by nodding Ben Mee’s clearance to his strike partner.
Despite being 2-0 down, Southampton , had their moments, boosted and bolstered by the returns of fit-again Danny Ings, Theo Walcott and the availability of captain James Ward-Prowse after the calf injury that forced him out of England’s World Cup qualifier against Poland. Burnley repelled those who came in their box repeatedly in their trademark, bodies-on-the-line fashion. But twice the impressive Ings drew Clarets skipper Mee out of the comfort zone with his movement and goals followed.
First, Mee followed him out of the box and Ings’s clever flick around the corner helped Ward-Prowse’s ball on to Stuart Armstrong who provided a brilliant first-time finish.
Then Ings beat Mee in a race down the right, showing brilliant composure to cut inside the sliding James Tarkowski before slipping the ball through Pope’s legs.
‘I’m so happy to have him back fit and on the pitch,’ Hasenhuttl said of his star man, who had been out for a month.
The striker transfer market looks set to be a busy one and, with one year left on his contract in the summer, here was a reminder why Ings — linked with Manchester City during the international break — could feature in it too.
Not only did he catch the eye with his goal and assist but with his all-round display and work rate.
Attack remained Southampton’s best form of defence after the break and Ings continued to be a central figure, setting up Ward-Prowse to crash an effort off the bar, having a header nodded off the line and then his shot spectacularly saved by Pope.
Defiant Pope also denied Armstrong twice and Walcott before his save from Ings but he could only repel the Saints so long.
Walcott clipped the loose ball to Redmond who was waiting at the back post to volley in what proved to be the winner.
If that sounds simple from the man who inspired Southampton into the FA Cup semi-finals with two quarter-final goals against Bournemouth, it wasn’t.
Redmond’s technique to keep his volley down and beat the two Burnley defenders between him and the goal was exceptional.
Pope’s earlier heroics were then matched by Forster. He flung himself full length to tip Wood’s curler wide and then he stayed big to deny the New Zealander from pointblank range.
The Burnley striker managed to get an effort in despite having his shirt pulled by Jan Bednarek.
Dyche said: ‘I’m a big fan of VAR but they’re the ones you do scratch your head at. Ryan Bertrand pulls out of a header and the ball hits his hand that wasn’t even looked at, so go figure.
‘We had a lot of control in the first half an hour then flat-lined for 15 minutes. You cannot do that in the Premier League. Without being disrespectful to Southampton, we presented them with a chance to win the game and were a little bit naive.’ SOUTHAMPTON (4-4-2): Forster 7; Walker-Peters 6.5, Bednarek 6, Vestergaard 6, Bertrand 7; Armstrong 7.5 (Salisu 79), Ward-Prowse 7, Diallo 7, Walcott 6 (Djenepo 87); INGS 8.5 (Adams 86), Redmond 7.5. Subs not used: McCarthy, Stephens, Minamino, Tella, Ferry, Jankewitz. Scorers: Armstrong 31, Ings 42, Redmond 66. Manager: Ralph Hasenhuttl 8. BURNLEY (4-4-2): Pope 8; Lowton 7, Tarkowski 7.5, Mee 7.5, Pieters 6.5 (Taylor 33, 7); Gudmundsson 5.5 (Richardson 90), Westwood 7, Brownhill 7, McNeil 7.5; Vydra 7 (Rodriguez 78), Wood 6. Subs not used: Taylor, Cork, Peacock-Farrell, Stephens, Nartey, Dunne, Driscoll-Glennon. Scorers: Wood 12, Vydra 28. Manager: Sean Dyche 7. Referee: Andre Marriner 7.