Southampton 3-0 Middlesborough Saints eased to victory over fellow promotion candidates Middlesborough with an accomplished performance at St Mary's.
Two early goals from Guly Do Prado and a late strike from substitute David Connolly helped maintain Nigel Adkins' side's impressive home form.
Boro were expected to give Saints a stiff test, but in truth - the home side dominated from start to finish. It look only 15 minutes for Southampton to open the scoring. Do Prado, playing up front alongside Rickie Lambert - headed home after a pinpoint cross from Danny Butterfield.
It didn't take long for the Brazilian to double his tally as some questionable Boro defending allowed Lambert to head the ball across goal, and Do Prado was waiting to nod home to give the hosts a healthy lead.
Do Prado had a glorious opportunity to seal his hat-trick but his scuffed shot came back off the post and away to safety.
Saints continued their dominance with Boro's best chance falling to Scott McDonald but he shot wide of the mark. Jack Cork forced a good save from Boro keeper Jason Steele before good work from Ricard Chaplow set up Jose Fonte, but again Steele saved well.
A patient passing move and brilliant fake by Lambert set up Connolly in acres of space, who lashed a powerful shot into the net to end any chance of a Boro fightback.
No comments:
Post a Comment