Southampton once again proved that they are the best side in the Championship, as they comfortably beat Coventry City 2-1 in the third round of the FA Cup.
Normally, promotion chasing Championship teams will be focusing their attention on the league campaign alone, but Southampton were extremely focused on making it into the next round of the FA Cup. Gary McSheffrey scored the opener for Coventry City after just 5 min. It was a real shock for Southampton and their system of play, but soon the Championship leaders composed themselves and started working the ball around.
They were not rewarded for their perseverance in the first half, as Coventry City maintained the lead. Just when it seemed that Coventry City were looking like being able to pull off an upset in the third round of the FA Cup, Ward-Prowse stepped up to score the equaliser for Southampton in the 64th minute. The match was marred by the scenes of angry protesters against the owners SISU. Despite this, the atmosphere in the ground was excellent and Coventry City were making good progress throughout the match. However, the quality of Southampton finally showed when they managed to find a late winner through Martin.
Martin scored in the 82nd minute to give Southampton a chance to record a comeback victory in the third round of the FA Cup. Fox’s in swinging corner was beautifully guided into the net by Martin. “James would have been on from the start whoever had been available because he deserved the opportunity to show what he can do. Naming James, Aaron and Ryan Doble, sending on Sam, Ben Reeves and Jack Stephens, plus having Luke Shaw on the bench underlines our development policy,” manager Adkins said after the match. Dan Harding was easily the man of the match with his powerful runs from the back.