They laboured a bit but eventually Manchester United did Saints a favour and beat Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final to mean that we now start in the group stages of the Europa League.

Ex Saints Jason Puncheon scored what looked to be a late winner at Wembley before Manchester United equalised and eventually won FA Cup after extra time to send Saints into the group stages of the Europa League.

It was a final of plenty of chances but of poor quality football with Palace employing the tactic of sitting back and trying to go on the break and get set pieces and United unable to produce much of note to break them down.

Morgan Schneiderlin was an unused substitute in the game which finished 2-1 after extra time with the only real flash of inspiration being Wayne Rooney who made a brilliant run for United's equaliser and looked the only United player with any real spark.

Although United won the trophy it is still questionable that it might have saved Louis Van Gaal's job, the performance was poor and lacked spark and inspiration.

But Saints and indeed West Ham United did not care, the result sends Saints into the group stages of the Europa League and the Hammers into the 3rd qualifying round.

For Saints it is a distinct advantage now not having to play qualifying rounds, if United had lost then Saints competitive season like the one just gone would have started in the final week of July and to get through to the group stage we would have had to play four Europa League games in a around four weeks.

Now we will not be in Europa League action till mid September meaning that we can prepare for the coming season in a proper manner with a spread out pre season and our players coming back from the Euro's will have time to rest before being thrown into important games.

So thank yo Manchester United although after their win I felt strangely dirty and unclean after cheering them on and had to take a shower !

Photo: Action Images

RednWight added 08:20 - May 22 I think it's the ref we should be thanking Seems he's never heard of playing advantage
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DPeps added 09:13 - May 22 Well that was tough. I had to check myself for cheering on Palace at some points. Now we need to prepare the squad for the extra games next season
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paddypants added 09:24 - May 22 I,ve seen a post saying(Facebook so it might be BS)we will go into pot 4 of 4. , due to our lack of European ranking points. If so, there will be a lot of teams that won,t want to get us....UTS.."group of death"
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SaintBrock added 10:14 - May 22 The FA Cup Final was awful to watch between two very poor teams having a nightmare. Not one player seemed capable of mastering even the basic skills of the game like holding onto the ball and picking a telling pass to an opponent. What do they get paid for. Saints are clearly a far better side tha n either yet win nothing. One wonders if this competition has run its course?

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halftimeorange added 10:32 - May 22 This is the official we're sending to the Euros! How many times does a key decision (or two) favour the "big" clubs. Yesterday's comedy of refereeing errors needs investigating by someone competent - I know, send for Inspector Clousseau. Nevertheless, it's the first time Clattenburg (in my memory) has ever done Saints a favour.
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davepid added 17:49 - May 22 Nick, tell me does that get us 6 games ,three at home and three away?
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Big_T added 22:04 - May 22 As the TV (idiot) pundits said "West Ham have made it to the qualify rounds of the Europa league..........and Southampton are in as well". Don't know why they bug me so much but they do.
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IWOZTHERE added 12:18 - May 23 Big big plus not having to play those extra games. Cost us Clasie for nearly half the season and more than that, we're still arguing whether he's had enough game time to prove himself?
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