Paul Jewell’s Town fell to their third home defeat in a week as an impressive Southampton side left Portman Road with a 5-2 win. The Saints were 3-0 in front at the break through Rickie Lambert (2) and David Connolly, however, Town fought back to 3-2 via Keith Andrews and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, but Adam Lallana added two more late on to seal a deserved victory.
Boss Paul Jewell made the expected change to his formation with the Blues lining up 4-4-2 with Keith Andrews coming in for his full debut and Jason Scotland making his first league start of the season. Jay Emmanuel-Thomas and Lee Martin, who has been suffering with a tight hamstring, dropped to the bench.
Andrews took up a central midfield role ahead of Mark Kennedy with Bowyer on the left and skipper Grant Leadbitter on the right.
The game started at a frenetic pace, Bowyer first just failing to find Scotland as he knocked a ball back across the box, then hit a shot which was blocked. At the other end, Adam Lallana hit a low shot just past Stockdale’s left post.
A Saints goal wasn’t too long in coming though, the visitors going in front in the fourth minute. Rickie Lambert played a one-two with Lallana on the edge of the area and found himself in the clear. Leadbitter’s despairing lunge couldn’t prevent him from slotting the ball past Stockdale. It was a dreadful goal from Town’s perspective, Lambert having been allowed to run on to the return pass with Leadbitter daydreaming.
On 10 Edwards shot weakly to former Blue Kelvin Davis but a minute later it was two. The ball was again played in to a probably offside Lallana midway inside the Town half and Lambert was again left unmarked to chase on to his pass and put the ball beyond Stockdale off the post.
The Blues couldn’t have started the game any worse having been constantly overrun in midfield and with Lambert and Lallana causing all sorts of problems up front. Manager Jewell moved quickly to change things, moving Mark Kennedy to left-back, Aaron Cresswell to left midfield and Lee Bowyer into the centre.
On 18 it could have been three when Guily Do Prado was found in space on the right of the Town box but shot wide. Moments later, the ball was played through for Bowyer whose 15-yard half-volleyed effort was well-saved by Davis. It was a good chance, although by no means an easy one.
Chopra had a shout for a penalty soon after when he collided with ex-Town left-back Dan Harding but referee Jon Moss waved away the protests.
The Blues should have pulled a goal back in the 23rd minute when Bowyer played Andrews in on the right of the area, Chopra missed his overhead kick and the ball fell to Cresswell, who shot wide when he really should have netted his first goal for Town. At the other end, Lallana headed straight at Stockdale.
As the clock moved towards the half hour, the Blues went close again, Chopra finding Scotland as Town broke after a Southampton freekick but the Trinidadian hit his shot to the left of Davis’s goal.
Jewell’s men had gradually started to find their feet and should have scored at least one of their chances, Cresswell’s having been by far the best. Southampton were still looking a threat whenever they went forward, however, albeit far from impenetrable at the back.
Damien Delaney picked up the game’s first booking for a foul on David Connolly on halfway with 10 minutes of what had been an all-action half remaining.
Three minutes before the break Southampton added to their lead. After a quick break from a series of Town corners, Do Prado was eventually played in on Stockdale by Lallana, taking the ball wide of the keeper to the right, then cutting the ball back to Connolly, who slammed into the empty net.
It was a half that couldn’t really have gone much worse for the Blues, who hadn’t had time to settle into their new formation before they were two goals down, Southampton’s swift movement and passing catching them on their heels time and again.
After the switch around of personnel the Blues threatened to get back into it but failed to take their opportunities when they came and then, as the half drew to a close, were caught on the counter-attack, as they are so often.
Jewell made two changes at the break, Lee Martin and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas replacing Kennedy and Scotland, Cresswell moving back to left-back with Martin in front of him.
The Blues had an early shout for a penalty when Andrews was sent to ground as a Cresswell cross from the left flew in, Emmanuel-Thomas behind him also appearing to be the subject of manhandling. Again referee Moss was unimpressed.
Jewell’s half-time changes seemed to work with Town on top at the start of the second half, and on 56 they pulled a goal back. Emmanuel-Thomas pulled a nothing pass out of the sky, killing it dead, then laid it off to Chopra, who unleashed a stunning strike from 20 yards, which cannoned off the woodwork. The loose ball fell to Andrews, who smashed in a full debut goal.
The Saints threatened to restore their three-goal lead as the game approached the hour mark, Lallana cutting in from the left and hitting a low shot which beat Stockdale, but which Cresswell brilliantly stopped on line.
On 61 the resurgent Blues pulled another one back. Kelvin Davis showed not untypical hesitancy as a ball from Cresswell came in from the left, his defenders only managing to deflect the ball into the air and, as several Town players appealed for a penalty for handball, Emmanuel-Thomas stabbed home the loose ball.
Portman Road was by now as loud as it has been for some while with Southampton looking increasingly shaky and Chopra and in particular Emmanuel-Thomas looking a threat.
A bad Edwards pass back caused problems for Stockdale in the 64th minute, the keeper kicking a bouncing ball poorly but the Trinidadian managed to get back in front of Lallana before he could get gain control inside the Blues’ area. Three minutes later, Connolly shot straight at Stockdale.
Town were continuing to have most of the ball and were taking the game to the visitors but all too often a pass would go astray at a vital moment or a cross would be whipped in too close to Davis.
Emmanuel-Thomas hit a shot from a tight angle on the left on 74 which Davis blocked with his legs, then Martin narrowly failed to find Leadbitter to his right, Harding intercepting.
But for all Town’s pushing for an equaliser, the Saints made the game safe in the 75th minute. Lallana brought the ball forward from halfway before laying it off to Schneiderlin. The Frenchman lobbed the ball over the Blues backline and this time it was Lallana’s turn to be allowed to run untracked from deep, the England U21 international beating Stockdale to make it 4-2.
Chopra was yellow-carded for a foul on Schneiderlin as the game entered its final 10 minutes. Frazer Richardson joined him in the book for timewasting as he prepared to take the kick.
Andrews made an important interception as Southampton again broke into the Town area in numbers after Leadbitter had lost possession midway inside the Blues’ half with the visitors’ fourth goal appearing to have firmly ended Town’s fightback.
Emmanuel-Thomas played in Martin on the left of the area with four minutes of normal time remaining, but Richardson got across to challenge, a combination of the full-back and keeper Davis seeing out of play. Somewhat implausibly, referee Moss, who had an inconsistent evening, awarded a goalkick.
In injury time the Saints made it five when the Blues were caught on the counter-attack once again as they went looking to get back into the game. Lallana was played through one-on-one with Stockdale by Lambert and made no mistake. The final whistle went soon after.
After the nightmare first half, the spirited fightback in the early part of the second half gave Town fans some hope that they might be in with a shout of a surprising point.
However, once Southampton reorganised and regained their composure, the Blues’ frailities were again brought firmly to the fore with the fourth goal much the same as the first three. The fifth was a typical late goal conceded by a side pushing forward trying to get back into the game.
Southampton were everything the Blues aren’t at the moment. They look like a settled, established side which is full of confidence. They go forward in numbers, move the ball quickly and in Lallana have one of the division’s best players and in Lambert one of the top finishers.
The size of Paul Jewell’s task is all too clear, while there will be few better sides than the Saints visiting Portman Road this season.
Town: Stockdale, Edwards, Cresswell, Delaney, Smith, Andrews, Kennedy (Martin 46), Leadbitter, Bowyer, Scotland (Emmanuel-Thomas 46), Chopra. Unused: Lee-Barrett, Ellington, Ainsley.
Southampton: Davis, Richardson, Harding, Fonte, Seaborne, Cork, Do Prado (Schneiderlin 71), Hammond, Lallana (De Ridder 90), Connolly (Fox 77), Lambert. Unused: Bialkowski, Martin. Referee: Jonathan Moss (West Yorkshire). Att: 18,553 (Saints: 1,165).