Saints came through at the Lamex Stadium against Stevenage in the Capital One Cup although the scoreline does not reflect the game.
Nigel Adkins rang the changes for this Capital One Cup tie with none of the starting XI featuring in the game against Wigan at the weekend bar Billy Sharp and Jamie Ward-Prowse who both came on as late subs. It was clear that the manager wanted to not only give some of his fringe players a chance, but a run out to some of the younger players at the club, strangely though there was no place even on the bench for Steve De Ridder, who if he isnt injured is now so far out from a first team place that he cant even get in what was effectively our reserve side.
Once again we played the 4-5-1 formation, but it was clear from the start that we didnt really have the personel to do this, Tadanari Lee is no left winger and constantly found himself out of position when being asked to track back and Billy Sharp up front battled manfully but again what is required from a lone striker is not what his strengths are.
In the first half hour Saints were very disjointed and players were constantly caught not only out of position but often were second to the ball on too many occasions for comfort, although we went in at the break all square, the fact of the matter was we could easily have gone in two goals down, it was hard to put your finger on it as for long periods we looked comfortable on the ball, but we just lacked concentration at too many times, a free kick that rattled the bar and a corner where two Stevenage players found themselves unmarked at the far post and got in each others way when it was easier to score where just two examples of where we could easily hve fallen behind.
In the second half as Stevenage tired we started to get a better grip of the game and when Billy Sharp did some good work and slid a perfect cross for lee to open the scoring it looked a lot better for Saints.
The second goal had an element of controversy, but I have to say the referee did nothing wrong, firstly their man did pass it back to the keeper under pressure and the keeper could easily have kicked long, but picked it up, it was a nailed on free kick for handling a back pass, Saints then did what they would have done in another part of the pitch without complaint, they got the ball and took it quickly with Stevenage at sixes and sevens and Sharp took the goal well, yes Stevenage feel hard done by, but the fact is if they had dealt with the whole situation professionally then we would not have scored.
But shortly after the tie looked beyond doubt, whatever your feelings of Puncheon, this was a great goal, when he got it 30 yards out there looked little on, he flicked the ball up and volleyed it into the corner of the goal, the ball never rising above about 4ft from the ground, the keeper never moved and nor did the Saints fans for a second, it looked clean and it looked crisp and it looked wide, but it wasnt and as the net rippled the Saints fans behind the goal were astonished, if Le Tissier had scored this goal it would have been heralded for weeks after.
A couple of late subs for Saints to run the clock down and it all looked over, however there would be a couple of late goals to liven up the crowd in five minutes of injury time, firstly the hosts scored a consolation and they went looking for a second in the hope of Saints youngsters getting the jitters, but pushing forward they were caught out with Ben Reeves scoring from the edge of the box to restore the three goal cushion.
A harsh result on the home side, but it will have answered a few questions for Nigel Adkins.
1. We have no cover at Centre half, Dan Seaborne is a League 1 central defender at best and after that we are down to playing full backs in that position.
2. It is no use playing 4-5-1 or whatever you want to dress it up as unless we get in a couple of pacy wingers, we dont have them at the club at the moment, either in the squad that faced Wigan or that last night at the Lamex.
3. The Premier League is a division where although you can get away with the odd youngster in the team especially if they are exceptional, we should not be relying on them, Luke Shaw is undoubtably a talent, but he is too raw even for this level in the Capital Cup at present, he needs to get experience and he needs to get it without the weight of expectation on his shoulders, the same can be said of several of our youngsters.