RETURN OF THE SAINTS
Armstrong puts Martin’s men back among the elite
FOR Rishi Sunak, a rare scent of victory – but for Leeds United, perennial black sheep of the playoffs, another shattering taste of eeh bah glum.
In monsoon conditions ideal for calling a General Election without a brolly, Adam Armstrong’s deadly Wembley finish restored Southampton to the Premier League at the first time of asking.
The Prime Minister – born in Southampton and a drop-in Saints fan – missed a measured display in the £200m promotion shoot-out.
In front of Hollywood royalty Dustin Hoffman – Rain Man himself – a tense spectacle began in a downpour but ended with Saints back in the sunlit uplands.
For the 11th time since 2004, the world’s richest game of club football was settled by a single goal.
Southampton head coach Russell Martin’s game plan was spot-on and his players executed it to perfection.
Their back five never yielded an inch, with the outstanding Kyle Walker-Peters keeping Crysencio Summerville so quiet that the Championship player of the year was hooked after 73 minutes.
And Armstrong (right), who could barely get a look-in at Newcastle, underlined why he is the most clinical marksman outside the top flight with his 24th goal of a prolific campaign.
Saints will need huge investment in their squad to make a better fist of the Premier League next season but that’s for another day. For Leeds – six play-off adventures, six crushing disappointments, including four finals – another defeat on the big stage was catastrophic.
Just as they came up short against Charlton (in 1987), Watford (2006) and Doncaster (2008), they failed to seize the day.
Manager Daniel Farke, twice promoted to the Premier League with Norwich as a champion, now faces an uncertain summer.
Only when substitute Dan James rattled the bar with a dipping volley six minutes from time – and then tested Saints keeper Alex McCarthy with another driven effort in the dying seconds – did Leeds threaten to score.
But it was too little, too late.
What a dismal way to mark the 35th anniversary of Leeds godfather Don Revie’s death. There was little between the two sides for the first quarter of the game as the men in white probed the Saints defence without success.
Leeds keeper Illan Meslier had already been extended to divert Will Smallbone’s curling free-kick when Farke’s defence was breached by a familiar nemesis.
Smallbone’s nifty pass exposed a wonky offside trap, with Ethan Ampadu out of place, and Armstrong drilled the ball across Meslier and inside the far post.
Farke’s defence gave Armstrong more space to wreak havoc near half-time but this time Meslier’s fingertips came to the rescue.
Substitute Samuel Edozie could have made promotion more straightforward, only to blaze high and wide from 12 yards.
Saints survived a late onslaught and by the time Martin led his players towards 40,000 delirious Saints fans with the trophy, the Leeds end was deserted.
LEEDS (4-2-3-1): Meslier 6; Gray 7, Rodon 6, Ampadu 5, Firpo 6 (Joseph 83); Kamara 5 (Roberts 73), Gruev 5; Gnonto 5 (James 66, 8), Piroe 6, Summerville 5 (Anthony 74); Rutter 5.
SOUTHAMPTON (3-5-2): McCarthy 7; Stephens 7, Bednarek 7, Harwood-Bellis 7; Walker-Peters 8, Smallbone 7, Downes 6, Aribo 7, Fraser 6 (Adams 70); Brooks 6 (Edozie 35, 6 (Manning 84), A ARMSTRONG 8.
REFEREE: John Brooks 7.