Ben Fisher’s match report is in. The semi-final is over, but the story might be just beginning …
Jubilant scenes among Southampton fans in the stands. Kim Hellberg, the Middlesbrough manager, looks devastated. Which is quite understandable. It was a bizarre goal to win it,. no one could deny that Southampton were the better team across the 120 minutes. They looked fitter and more composed.
Will there be a further twist at the imminent misconduct hearing for Southampton? We shall see.
“ I Just Can’t Get Enough,” by Depeche Mode blasts over the PA at St Mary’s. Who’d have thunk it? We nearly had penalties but Charles’s very strange goal won it.
The matchwinner. player of the match, Shea Charles, has a chat: “I thought I put it into an area [the winner] … it’s gone all the way through and gone in. Incredible moment. It was a cross-shot.
“None of us are used to playing extra-time really. Really tough, against a really good team. Thankfully we came out on top.”
The Saints repel one final, desperate attempt at a set-piece … Sontje Hansen blazes over –. Southampton are into the Championship playoff final at Wembley, where they will play Hull City on 23 May!*
*Subject to the looming misconduct hearing.
120 min+5: A set-piece for Saints is kicked, rugby style, for touch in the corner.
120 min+4: A couple of shots blocked by Saints! One from Sarmiento … and it’s a corner … Brynn, the goalie, is up for the corner.
120 min+3: Brittain tries a volley. He skews it well wide. The crowd go wild.
120 min: Five minutes added. Boro are suddenly playing with urgency! Browne has a fierce shot blocked. He had Brittain outside him …
119 min: Boro have barely threatened for, like, ages now. Can they muster something?
And what will Southampton’s punishment be at that imminent misconduct hearing …
117 min: Players were cramping all over the place. Charles swung a boot at the ball from out wide. Fry was unable to block the ball – he looked physically incapable of doing so – Brynn in goal didn’t read it,. it nestled in the net. Horrible for the visitors, deep joy for Southampton!
What?! It looks like a speculative cross from the right, and it flies in at the far post!
113 min: Azaz tries to cross from the Southampton left, but it’s a naff effort.
Edozie breaks again. crosses but Boro hold firm again … then, again, it’s Castledine on the counter, but it’s defences on top one more time. De ja vu all over again.
110 min: Castledine breaks down the right for Middlesbrough,. the Saints defence is really stretched, but he fluffs a one-two with Jeremy Sarmiento after cutting in. A waste.
(Sarmiento came on at the break.)
109 min: Edozie has had treatment and we’re back in action. Although you do sense both teams are quite happy to play their way to penalties.
105 min: Edozie is flying down the Saints left again. Boro deal with it. The winger is down and clutching his shoulder. It was a superb, clean tackle by Browne for Middlesbrough but Edozie fell awkwardly.
We drift towards the dreaded penalty competition.
104 min: Plenty of TV shots of tense fans. Manning crosses well again, for Wood, who cannot get over it.
102 min: Edozie to the byline. He just manages to keep it in. Boro clear, but Castledine cannot get the ball under his spell. it’s back with Southampton again, who are utterly dominant now.
100 min: Edozie hammers a shot at the goalkeeper Brynn, after the second corner! He saves,. Harwood-Bellis must surely score from the rebound … he misses his kick, or rather cannot get in a position to kick. That is the closest either side have come for a good while.
98 min: Larin wins a corner for Southampton with a bright run down the right. Wood tries to head it, it’s deflected out for another corner.
97 min: Saints are unbeaten in 12 at home. The last team to beat them here? Hull City, who await in the playoff final on 23 May. Thank you, Sky Sports commentators, for the stat.
96 min: The pace has dropped. It’s almost an official ceasefire, at points. But here comes Castledine with a dart down the Boro left.
94 min: Targett whips in a cross for his Southampton teammate Castledine. Harwood-Bellis does well to clear, excellent defending.
93 min: Saints have had 70% possession since the 68th minute.
92 min: Edozie roars down the left wing. Brittain manhandles him, and is booked. Brynn claims the set-piece.
Extra-time, here we come. It was an incident-packed game and highly entertaining at times. But both teams look exhausted now, and I don’t think anyone would complain if it went straight to penalties.
90 min +7: One last chance for Southampton? They have a throw on the right.
90 min +6: Boro think about a counterattack, but they look quite happy for Jander to stab the ball out for a throw. save them the bother.
90 min +5: Brittain clatters Charles. A late set-piece for Saints …
90 min +3: Ayling and Harwood-Bellis are having words again. This time, it ends more amicably. We are going to have extra-time, it seems,. judging by the dwindling energy levels of both teams, it’ll be a stalemate until penalties.
90 min +1: Fry challenges Larin in the area as he attempts to clear! The fans want a penalty! File that one under “seen them given”.
90 min: Five minutes added, minimum. Ayling loses it, and Larin fires a powerful shot at Brynn, who is equal to it.
88 min: Extra-time looms nearer. Southampton are huffing and puffing but not posing any serious threat right now. Samuel Edozie is also on for Saints. Scienza and Stewart both off.
85 min: Azaz is fouled and Southampton have a free-kick in a dangerous spot, on their right wing. Malanda clears it for a corner.
It’s hard to remember the last time Middlesbrough really threatened the Saints goal.
84 min: Both teams are tiring. Feels like it’s going a bit flat. like they’ve both settled for extra-time … Now here is Cyle Larin, on for Southampton, who has scored six goals in his last nine games.
83 min: Change for the visitors: Leo Castledine is on for Strelec.
81 min: Now there is more argy-bargy, when Morris goes to get a ball for a throw-in,. the ballboy won’t give it to him. A few of the substitutes get “in and around” it.
80 min: “Just a quick note,” emails Karl.
“Definitely not a contribution either way in the “everyone should or should not pronounce every foreign-to-them word correctly” debate. to be clear – the commentator pronouncing it “Matski” is probably an attempt at the correct Japanese pronunciation, where some syllables that are written out in the romanised spelling are often swallowed or elided. Thus the family name Matsuki should sound closer to “Matski”,. not “Mat-soo-kee”, as most English speakers would probably default to.”
78 min: Malanda coughs up a foul on Azaz near halfway and is booked. Southampton continue to look the more threatening now, after Boro’s storming start. Will we have a winner in normal time?
76 min: Scienza battles on. He wins a corner. The set-piece is headed over by Harwood-Bellis with the goalie nowhere near it.
75 min: “If this games goes to penalties,” writes John Brennan. “I’d advise either team not to have Finn Azaz or Alan Browne take penalties after their diabolical efforts for Ireland in Prague!”
73 min: We can be sure that the EFL are praying for Boro to win this. given the fact that Southampton imminently face a misconduct hearing that could even see them thrown out of the playoffs. It could be a real mess.
73 min: Middlesbrough change: Alan Browne is on for Conway.
71 min: Space to attack for Southampton. Azaz hits a shot from the edge that is blocked. Conway has gone down injured for the visitors, he looks hurt,. the players all go to their coaches during the break in play.
68 min: After a Saints move breaks down. McGree sends a lovely raking pass over for Whittaker on the Boro right. He cuts inside and is lucky to get a corner after a poor off-target effort. That was a waste because the Southampton defence, initially, was badly out of shape.
66 min: Saints change: Flynn Downes on for Matsuki.
I’m glad, in a way, because the commentator seems to think he’s called “Matski”.
65 min: Next up, Fry is at the far post from a Boro free-kick. He’s in plenty of space but his header, then cross-shot, are blocked.
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