Ipswich Away Won 1 – 2
Ramsdale was fit enough to start at Ipswich but Sulemana, Dibling and Stephens only made it as far as the substitute area while there were debuts for Santos (playing under his forename Welington) and Grønbӕk. Neither of the new arrivals were to see out the 90 minutes, with Welington’s contribution solid enough despite a first half booking and Grønbӕk showing decent forward breaks in an opening quarter approached with caution by two struggling sides. That opening phase ended with a Southampton goal struck home by Aribo with more accuracy than force but having enough on it to beat Muric. The lead didn’t last all that long as Delap (junior) raced clear of the visiting defence to equalise; it recalled Tonali’s effort seven days earlier and maybe indicates a flaw in the system. Indeed a second home player, Broadhead, found himself in a similar position but from a less advantageous angle, allowing Ramsdale to make a crucial save, with the situation also rescued by Ugochukwu’s chase back. We try to play a high line which exposes vulnerabilities and the wing back system also seems to leave a lot of spaces. Happily we didn’t suffer again, even with new defensive personnel featuring Stephens after a knock forced off Harwood-Bellis at the break. Suspension followed by injury have kept Stephens out of contention since early December, and the comeback lasted barely ten minutes, prompting a second replacement centre back, and rather than risk Bella-Kotchap off the bench, Ivan opted for Aribo in a flexible back five, Smallbone coming into midfield. Whether we could get away with such a ploy against more savvy opponents is open to doubt, but the Tractor Boys were pretty much kept at bay. Welington went down injured and, maybe as a result, was relieved by Sugawara – just as well as the Japanese himself earned a caution, and Grønbӕk had already made way for Sulemana; it did seem as though the manager was thinking of a win, rather than just his first point, as Lallana was also on for Ugochukwu and, lo and behold, we got that go-ahead goal: Sulemana tested Muric at the near post and Onuachu was on hand to turn in the loose ball with an ease that gave the illusion that he was used to that sort thing in his Southampton career. Three minutes plus an unexpectedly lengthy added eight to survive, but when a free kick was blocked by the wall, even the pessimistic began to believe that at last it was to be a Saints win on the road – confirmed when the referee called it a day after Aribo was fouled breaking out of defence.
Three LSSC Man of the Match candidates for you to choose from:
7. Joe Aribo with a goal and a defensive effort to see us home.
14. James Bree, a bit one-paced but that didn’t matter so much against these opponents.
30. Aaron Ramsdale, with a critical first half save.
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