Southampton 3-2 Stoke City: Saints go away it late to sink Potters and advance to quarter-finals of the EFL Cup after James Bree scores winner on the dying
- Southampton advance to Carabao Cup’s fifth round at St Mary’s Stadium
- Championship Stoke offer stiff resistance to but ultimately crumble
- LISTEN NOW: It’s All Kicking Off!, available wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Monday and Thursday
Southampton finally have a home win and a place in the quarter-final of the League Cup after James Bree’s late winner was enough to edge past Stoke City.
Saints were coasting after goals from Taylor Harwood-Bellis and a penalty from Adam Armstrong but Ashley Phillips pulled one back just before half-time with an impudent free-kick before Tom Cannon levelled ten minutes after half time.
Nerves were jangling around St Mary’s after Saints had also let slip a two-goal lead against Leicester in the last home game but Bree stepped up to clinch it for Russell Martin’s side two minutes from time.
Martin said: ‘It’s been a while so it feels good.
‘I think we deserved to win but we just made it a bit tougher than we should. The guys didn’t look very happy coming in.
Southampton beat Stoke City 2-1 in the EFL Cup fourth round on Tuesday night at St Mary’s
Saints’ Taylor Harwood-Bellis (inset) opened scoring versus Stoke City in the EFL fourth round
Stoke came from 2-0 down to level the scoring early in the match’s second half
‘It’s never easy in the cup. We made it tougher than it should have been, for sure. But we also showed a bit of resilience at 2-2.
‘We were so dominant the first half, I really enjoyed the performance.’
