Round 2, Abbey Stadium, Tuesday, 19:45
Having scored two goals against Leicester on Saturday, he then scored another two against Cambridge Utd the following Tuesday
|Well, this was as routine as a win is likely to be. McCarthy was in goal for Saints and could have had a deckchair with a good book to read for all the work he had to do. Some rarely seen Saints players were in the side and there were a sprinkling of the young B team players on the bench, but the eycatching starter was 18 year old Lewis Payne who was handed his first team debut.
The end result of all the changes was that Saints just had two much talent and power for Cambridge to trouble the Premier League team. In fact Adams had the ball in the net within four minutes, but was flagged for handball. It looked as though he had controlled the ball with his right arm before firing home.
It just seemed a matter of time before the visitors in their red and white home kit actually scored and almost immediately Adams drew a good diving save from the goalie.
Eventually all Saints pressure told this time , debutant Lewis Payne squared the ball to Adams, who made no mistake and it was 0-1.
The visitors were just too quick for the home team to get any sort of possession and Adam Armstrong's pace in particular was causing them a problem to which there seemed no answer. But, try as he might Adam just didn't seem to have the rub of the green and five minutes before half time saw a shot that seemed a certain goal was clear off the line by the Cambridge No.2, Williams.
There was one surprise before the break, when McCarthy was forced into a save from Janneh. He had so little to do in the first 45 minutes he could almost have set up a deckchair in the penalty area.
So, 0-1 at the break and the probability of more goals to come.
Saints carried on the second half in the same manner as they had controlled the first, with Stuart Armstrong forcing another acrobatic save from Mannion in the Cambridge goal.
We didn't have to wait too long before the second Saints goal, as there was seemingly endless pressure around the Cambridge penalty area, Romeu shot, which the keeper could only parry and there was Adams to stab home from close range to make it 0-2. The home fans were less than happy, as they were convinced Adams had used his arm to control the ball right at the start of the buildup to the goal. They had a point, but the ref was unimpressed.
Still Saints came flooding forward and Romeu had a shot go wide, followed by Yan Valery shooting from the edge of the area, low, hard and on target, which the keeper got down to, pushing the ball beyond the far post.
Learning from past mistakes, Ralph and the team made full use of the substitutes, starting on 66 minutes, replacing Elyounoussi, Adam Armstrong and Adams with Aribo, Djenepo and Mara. Then on 75 minutes Ralph substituted on debutant with another, Lewis Payne, who had had an excellent game, went off to be replaced by Dominic Ballard.
Valery then went racing down the right wing and close to the byline, squared the ball across the face of goal. Mara was right in front of goal, but the pass evaded him, but just sat up perfectly for the onrushing Ballard to crash a fierce shot at the keeper, who could only parry the shot downwards. Ballard had continued his run and pounced, lashing the ball into the roof of the net, to the obvious fury of the keeper. The Saints fans, players and coaches went mad. The players in particular all came over to enthusiastically congratulate the 18 year old.
0-3 and that was that. So, Saints were safely through to the next round, which is not due to be played until November.
IBO Reporter: channonite
Dominic Ballard had a night to remember, the 17 year old coming on as a sub for his first team debut in the 75th minute and scoring his first goal 13 minutes later
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