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Southampton At Bournemouth The FA Cup Verdict

A day when negativity was not allowed in the Saints dressing room and Nathan Redmond had perhaps his best performance in a Saints shirt as Saints cruised to an FA Cup semi final at Wembley, time to enjoy the season.

In the run up to this game you would have thought that Saints were the underdogs, social media was full of how Bournemouth had just put on a masterclass in beating Swansea and Saints were a relegation bound team about to go out of the FA Cup.

The knives were being sharpened even further when the team was announced and Nathan Redmond was in it, there seemed to be only one man in the City who thought he should play and luckily for Saints that man was Ralph Hasenhuttl.

I have to say that I was surprised at the decision, Redmond has not shone of late, but unlike some I didn't think he had been as bad as they would make out in most of the games.

We expected Bournemouth bluster, but from the start it was clear that they were not as up for it as Saints, we had a steely determination about us than ran right through the team.

We looked to have taken the lead when Kyle Walker Peters too a superb crossfield pass in his stride and his perfect cross meant that Cameron Carter-Vickers could only put it into his own net, but VAR veered it's ugly head again, I think VAR is a good thing, but only if used properly, when you are spending two minutes drawing lines on a screen to find an elbow an inch offside, it is not doing the job it was meant for.

But this setback for Saints didn't dent their confidence, although it took a smart save from Fraser Forster to stand up tall and block a searing shot at his near post, it looked a simple save, but we have seen three similar go in over the past few months and Forster showed why he had to be restored to the side, indeed in this game he truly looked like his confidence was restored.

But cometh the hour cometh the man and the Nathan Redmond show started in the 37th minute, receiving the ball in the centre circle and headed straight through the heart of the home defence before sliding through the perfect ball for Djenepo to hit the perfect shot into the bottom corner.

9 minutes later and in first half injury time it was Redmond again who went on a run that ended with a crisp shot to give Saints a 2-0 half time lead.

In the second half it was a case of making sure Bournemouth didn't get back into it, VAR did its bit again spending 2 minutes to sort out an offside call that although right was time consuming.

But up stepped Redmond again, Saints pressed Bournemouth into an error just as they were looking to try and step up their game and after a Stuart Armstrong shot smashed against the post it would have been easy for Redmond to fire the ball over the bar, he kept his cool and kept his shot low and accurate.

The game was now effectively over as a contest, Saints had chances to make it more comprehensive, but they were more concerned about game management, keep a clean sheet and get to the semi finals.

This they did well so much so that with 13 minutes to go Ralph Hasenhuttl felt confident to sub off both Jan Bednarek and Jannik Vestergaard who were both on a yellow card and bring on Jack Stephens and Mohammed Salisu, it changed nothing.

Saints looked a totally different team from the one that took on Brighton, it had desire and confidence and showed the form of the first three months of the season and this bodes well for the last 9 games of the season were we need a win or two so we can put to bed any lingering worries about relegation.

We should not get too carried away though, this was a poor Bournemouth side who are no great shakes in the Championship, but there was still a job to be done, the focus after the game was that Bournemouth had 7 out, we had 6 out and the Cherries were not missing key players of the class of Danny Ings, Oriol Romeu and Theo Walcott, all key players as we stormed to the top of the Premier League and also Minamino who was cup tied.

But with three of the above four due back after the International break suddenly the season looks a lot better and could yet be one of our best ever.

So now is the time to banish negativity, many things have conspired to dampen our spirits this season, but overall there will be many clubs this weekend who envy our position, finishing 8th in the league looks good but ultimately gets you nothing, give me 14th and an FA Cup semi final over that any day.

So lets get the smiles back on the faces, we are in the FA Cup semi finals, something that has only happened 6 times previously since the second World War and twice before in the last 35 years, this is a big deal.

It will be a tough last four we will start as 4th favourites, but we can pull off the odd result or two as we have shown both this season and last, Ralph Hasenhuttl has slowly but surely revamped the Saints squad, it is still a work in progress, but when you compare it to the one he inherited , the difference is clear, now is the time to back Ralph and back the team, we have a chance of glory lets enjoy it not find something to moan about.

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