Saints crush Carlisle to lift JP Trophy
Carlisle 1, Saints 4
Rickie Lambert, Adam Lallana, Papa Waigo and Michail Antonio grabbed the goals as Alan Pardew lifted the club’s first silverware in 34 years.
Southampton’s first participation in this competition may illustrate just how far they have fallen since their top-flight days, but 44,000 supporters made the trip from the south coast to see the 2003 FA Cup finalists take on their League One rivals.
Schneiderlin and Thomas failed to shake off injuries in time for the Johnstone’s Paint Final, which is a shame as the Frenchman has had a fine season while the defender had been ever-present in the JPT campaign.
In Thomas’s absence, Carlisle looked keen to exploit the out of position Harding at right back but they didn’t manage to disturb Davis too much with their early threats and were found wanting themselves when Antonio sent over an inviting cross which had Lambert poised for a goal-bound header before Murphy stuck up his hand. Saints players surrounded the referee, presumably to offer undignified arguments for Murphy’s dismissal, but fortunately they came to nothing.
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That was a good thing for all concerned because once Lambert had slammed in the penalty, Saints outclassed their opponents anyway – and that would have been far less impressive against 10 men. Goalkeeper Collin had to make several sharp stops to prevent Saints getting a second, but it eventually came from that most unattractive source: an Antonio long through was helped on by Lambert for Lallana to head in at the far post. Most of half time was spent in the toilet queue so there was not much opportunity to reflect quietly on future prospects – but I can’t believe anyone, anywhere was contemplating the possibility of defeat at this stage. They certainly weren’t after N’Diaye nodded in the loose ball when Collin prevented Antonio from completing a sweeping move.
Antonio wasn’t denied in the end as he sidestepped his defenders attention before firing in on 59 minutes. With sunshine rather than the threatened rain, Wembley was a great place to be for Saints fans as the afternoon wore on, especially in the splendid seats Terry Trevis had sorted out for LSSC members. Madine headed Carlisle’s consolation after 84 minutes, but neither that setback nor Southampton’s failure to take some of their own late chances really mattered when Messrs Hammond and Davis jointly went to pick up the Paint Pot itself. Well done, lads.
LSSC Man of the Match: Few people seemed to agree with the official MotM decision of Rickie Lambert at the time, but he did come over well on the TV highlights. However, with so many LSSC members able to judge, you can have your own say by completing the web site poll. Who says this isn’t democratic?
Click here for an excellent piece by BBC ‘Late Kick-off’ on Saints at Wembley
Saints
01 Davis
02 Harding
06 Jaidi (Perry 90+2)
12 Fonte
18 Mills
10 Wotton (Connolly 85)
14 Hammond
37 Antonio
07 Lambert
09 Papa Waigo (Gillett 76)
20 Lallana
Carlisle
01 Collin
03 Horwood
06 Murphy
14 Harte
21 Keogh
04 Bridge-Wilkinson (Anyinsah 61)
08 Kavanagh (Madine 73)
10 Robson
11 Thirlwell (Taiwo 79)
25 Clayton
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