Report from Tom Crocker:
The Saints marched into the second round of the Carling Cup, after a hard fought win over south coast rivals Bournemouth at St Mary's.
Both Southampton and Bournemouth shuffled their packs following 1-0 npower League 1 defeats on Saturday with the Cherries opting for Stephen Purches and Ryan Garry in the backline. This allowed Shaun Cooper to push forward into a holding midfield role, whilst Lee Bradbury dropped to the bench along with Harry Arter who still hasn't fully recovered from injury. Southampton made four changes to their side with Jaidi, Harding and Connolly all rested and Morgan Schneiderlin on France under-21 duty. This allowed Adam Lallana to come into the starting line-up against his old club and sixteen year old Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to make his first competitive start. Paul Wotton and Dan Seaborne were also promoted to the starting line-up.
The main talking point from the opening to the match came from the stands. Bournemouth had sold all of their 4,000 allocated tickets and were making for a lively atmosphere right from the off. But it was the home side who created the first chance of the evening after ten minutes. Jason Puncheon caused the Cherries defence problems with a jinking run, before cutting onto his left foot and firing towards goal from twenty yards. Fortunately for the travelling supporters, 'keeper Shwan Jalal was equal to the task and kept the score goalless.
That seemed to spur the visitors on as they began to make their mark on the match. A cross into the area fell to Anton Robinson who shifted it out to Liam Feeney. The winger, who scored in last year's pre-season friendly between the two sides, almost found the bottom corner with a left footed drive that narrowly flashed past the post. Both Pitman and Pugh were looking dangerous going forward and the two could've combined for the opener on twenty minutes. Marc Pugh worked half a yard of space for himself before whipping a cross into the centre. The ball agonisingly evaded the head of Pitman and the danger was cleared by Danny Butterfield. Just two minutes later Liam Feeney headed over during what was an impressive spell from the Cherries, something which both Eddie Howe and Alan Pardew praised after the match.
Southampton tried to find their way through but brave blocks first from Pearce and then Ryan Garry denied Puncheon and Chamberlain respectively. The frustration of the home side began to show as half time approached, with skipper Dean Hammond booked for a foul from behind on Marvin Bartley.
The closest either side came to a goal in the first half was a Brett Pitman free kick. The Jersey born striker stepped up from just outside the area and smashed the ball towards the top corner but, with the aid of a slight deflection, the ball rattled the stanchion just behind the goal. On the stroke of half time the lively Marc Pugh nearly caught out Kelvin Davis with a looping cross which clipped the top of the bar but the score was 0-0 heading into the break, with the Cherries probably feeling as if they should be in front.
Alan Pardew told his side at half time that they were being "embarrassed" and the Saints responded well, nearly opening the scoring just minutes after the restart. An in-swinging corner from Jason Puncheon was met by Paul Wotton. The midfielder's flick on beat Jalal by left back Rhoys Wiggins cleared off of the goal-line. It wasn't long after when the deadlock was broken. Puncheon held off the challenges of the Bournemouth defenders before a pass to former Cherry Adam Lallana. He cut inside and got the ball out of his feet before firing a delightful curled effort into the top right hand corner of the net past the reach of Shwan Jalal. St Mary's erupted as the home side registered their first goal of the new campaign.
Eddie Howe responded immediately showing his intent to get a result from this match, throwing on striker Michael Symes to replace Marvin Bartley and switch to a 4-4-2.
However, it was the hosts who appeared to be buoyed by the opener and they could've doubled their lead just a minute later when teenager Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain made a burst towards goal. Lallana had been left unmarked on the left but he wasn't spotted and Chamberlain's long range shot was comfortably saved by Jalal. It could've possibly been seen as a moment of immaturity the winger rectified later on in the match. Brett Pitman saw a 25 yard shot well parried by Davis shortly before the game was wrapped up by the Saints.
Last year's leading marksman Rickie Lambert made his return from injury with little over five minutes remaining, but he made an immediate impact. Just thirty seconds after coming on he saw a shot saved by Jalal, but his most defining moment was a ball played through the middle towards Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. The Bournemouth goalie felt he could get to the ball first so raced out of his area to clear. Unfortunately for him his attempts to relieve the danger ultimately backfired as the ball rebounded off of the on-rushing Oxlade-Chamberlain who tapped into the vacated net.
Further disappointment was revealed after the match by Eddie Howe after he made it known that Ryan Garry had picked up an injury, but there were still plenty of positives to take from tonight's game as well as the defeat at Charlton on Saturday. Next up for the Cherries is another tough encounter with a recent Championship club as Peterborough head to Dean Court, on the back of a 3-0 victory over Bristol Rovers at the weekend, and a 4-1 Carling Cup first round victory over Rotherham. Nevertheless Howe's side will no doubt be ready for the challenge backed by their home crowd for the first time of the 2010/11 campaign.
Southampton: Davis; Butterfield, Fonte, Seaborne, Dickson (Harding 45); Chamberlain, Hammond (c), Wotton, Lallana (Holmes 79); Puncheon, Barnard (Lambert 84)
Subs not used: Bialkowski, Martin, Mills, Garrod
Goals: Lallana (64), Chamberlain (85)
AFC Bournemouth: Jalal; Purches, Pearce (c), Garry (Bradbury 75), Wiggins; Feeney, Bartley (Symes 65), Cooper (Hollands 58), Robinson, Pugh; Pitman
Subs not used: Thomas, Cummings, McQuoid, Arter
