Stoke Home Won 3 – 1
With no home friendlies, Stoke were our first visitors in 2026/27 and Tonda brought back Azaz and Fellows for Dobbin and Bragg in a more attacking line-up and more familiar formation; there was no sign of Harwood-Bellis, whose heart and/or head maybe elsewhere, or still injured Jander. We certainly wanted a better first half performance and it looked as though we would get it when Azaz won the ball and Scienza played in Larin; the big Canadian can show a surprising turn of pace when he has to and he completed the move with a shot through Johansson’s legs, presumably by design. We were set up with an expectation that Stoke would park the bus but City now had to move to a Plan B and Saints struggled to cope. The 26th minute equaliser wasn’t entirely unexpected but it should certainly have been prevented as five defenders failed to deal with Gallagher’s low cross before Galbraith, the only visiting player in the vicinity, swept it in. It was a better second half for Southampton and that could be because Stoke had returned to their shell. There was plenty of Southampton pressure but we failed to stretch Johansson, our usual nemesis – he has also found novel ways of breaking the spirit, if not the letter, of the five second goal kick rule. When Saints won a free kick near the box, Stephens was moved to wrestle with the keeper to retrieve the ball and Ingelsson was booked after the resulting handbags. The kick had been won by Mubama, one of three subs who were to influence a positive result. In the 89th minute, Dobbin (on for Scienza) found Azaz whose first time pass set up Mubama (for Larin) who finished well. Then, well into added time, Edozie (for Fellows) broke clear, possibly offside, only to be pushed down by Ingelsson, probably outside the box. That meant a second yellow for the defender, and, happily, a penalty converted by Manning. Home fans left highly satisfied with the result, but maybe not entirely convinced.
Three LSSC Man of the Match candidates to choose from:
9. Cyle Larin, a third goal of a still new season.
10. Finn Azaz, with one and a half very good assists.
27. Kuryu Matsuki, for his industry, even when things were a bit tough.
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