Southampton FC vs Shrewsbury Town FC

FA Cup First Round

Southampton vs. Shrewsbury Sat 6^th November 2010

Supersub David Connolly saved Southampton a trip to Shropshire by scoring just two minutes after coming onto the field.

And Connolly wasn’t finished there as less than a minute later, he set up Adam Lallana who finished in style to secure Saint’s place in the next round.

But the home crowd had to wait until 2 minutes into injury time to see their team finally break the deadlock.

After the 4-0 drubbing of Dagenham and Redbridge, the Saints had their sights set on an FA Cup first round victory over league 2’s Shrewsbury Town.

Manager Nigel Adkins made 2 changes from the team who dominated Dagenham 4 days earlier, with Jose Fonte and Rickie Lambert making way for Radhi Jaidi and Guly Do Prado.

The Saints certainly looked the brightest in front of the modest 10,000 crowd, with Richard Chaplow having an early effort that narrowly sailed over the bar.

But as the drizzle began to seep down on the pitch, the standard of football became as dull as the weather.

Neither team was dominating or showing any signs of a breakthrough as the tight Shrewsbury defence successfully nullified the Saints attack.

Adam Lallana and Alex Chamerlain both looked lively with their unpredictable trickery causing problems, but toward the end of the half Shrewsbury began to test the Saints goal.

Kelvin Davies had to be alert when he kept out a shot from Shrew’s midfielder Dean Holden, but the chance was by no means clear cut.

After the disappointing first half the Saints began to pile on the pressure in the second as Shrewsbury struggled to get the ball into the Saints half.

But the possession was counting for nothing as the Saints failed to convert numerous attacks and corners and the home crowd started to become irate.

Adkins made the first of his changes on 65 minutes, bringing on Rickie Lambert who’s first act of the game was to blaze a promising free kick well wide.

And the small pocket of 700 Shrewsbury fans were the ones making the noise as they sensed a replay at the New Meadow.

But cometh the 88^th minute cometh the man, as a double substitution saw Lee Barnard and Guly Do Prado replaced by David Connolly and Lee Holmes.

As far as instant impacts go it was one of the best as just two minutes later, with the ball ping-ponging around the Shrewsbury penalty area, David Connolly reacted fastest to smash the it into back of the net.

And barely a minute went by when the Saints fans were celebrating againn when a rapid counter attack saw Connolly thread the ball through to Man of the Match Lallana, who expertly bent it around the keeper into the bottom right corner.

With the final whistle came a sense of relief for Southampton who were not forced to travel for an away replay.

But the fact that it took so long to break down lower league opposition, will come as a disappointment to fans and players alike.