Somehow it did not not feel like good news for Russell Martin, the Southampton manager, that the club’s lead investor Dragan Solak was making a rare visit to St Mary’s on Saturday. Another failure to win — and in front of the owner — would surely have put Martin’s job in doubt. But instead Solak witnessed his club’s first victory of the season, and a deserved one.
It came at the tenth attempt, thereby avoiding Martin’s team setting a new club record for winless games at the start of a season, and lifted them off the bottom of the table before Wolverhampton Wanderers’ home game against Crystal Palace. It was only their second win in their last 13 Premier League home fixtures and continued an unfamiliar feelgood factor around St Mary’s after the 3-2 victory in midweek over Stoke City in the Carabao Cup.
Adam Armstrong scored the only goal five minutes from time, seconds after Beto, the Everton substitute, had hit the crossbar at the other end. But the visitors, who had a possible equaliser ruled out by VAR four minutes later, would hardly have deserved to take a point, let alone three, even though Aaron Ramsdale, the Southampton goalkeeper, made some excellent saves.
Southampton were the more adventurous and creative throughout. When Martin’s high-risk, high-reward game comes off it is very good to watch indeed. Everton mostly looked pedestrian by comparison. Their opening gambit, a long, high ball down the middle, seemed to belong to another age, as did a reckless late challenge by James Tarkowski on Cameron Archer for which he was lucky not to see red.
But the clash of styles yielded very little in the way of goalmouth action until just before the interval, when Southampton went close through Archer, then Taylor Harwood-Bellis.
A disappointing Everton, by comparison, had shown little ambition against a side with such a poor record. Their first serious effort at goal did not arrive until the 50th minute, when Orel Mangala met Ashley Young’s low cross with a shot from 18 yards that forced a save from Ramsdale.
Archer is put under pressure by Tarkowski as Everton’s five-game unbeaten run came to an end
MATT WATSON/GETTY IMAGES
Everton were now making their move, and Ramsdale had to pull off a superlative save after 66 minutes, touching Michael Keane’s stooping header onto the foot of a post and then clutching the ball before the Everton defender could force it in at the second attempt.
Ramsdale then saved from Jesper Lindstrom’s curling free kick after defender Jan Bednarek — who tasted victory for the first time in 23 Premier League starts — had survived a VAR examination of his challenge on Beto as the Everton substitute went through.
Beto thought he had equalised but a VAR check ruled that he had been offside
STEVE BARDENS/GETTY IMAGES
Then, after Beto had headed Tarkowski’s volleyed cross against the bar, Southampton broke away and Armstrong escaped the Everton defenders to smack home Yuki Sugawara’s low cross.
With five minutes to go, that had to be that, surely? But Southampton still had to go through agonies as VAR Matt Donohoe took three minutes to rule that Beto had been offside when he ran onto Tarkowski’s long pass before knocking the ball past Ramsdale.
Southampton (4-4-2): A Ramsdale 8 — K Walker-Peters 6, T Harwood-Bellis 7, J Bednarek 7, J Stephens 7 (Y Sugawara 79) — F Downes 6, A Lallana 6 (J Aribo 46, 5). ), M Fernandes 7 (L Ugochukwu 90+3), R Manning 8 (T Dibling 59, 7) — A Armstrong 6, C Archer 6 (P Onuachu 90+2). Booked: Bednarek, Fernandes, Dibling.
Everton (4-2-3-1): J Pickford 7 — A Young 7, M Keane 7, J Tarkowski 6, V Mykolenko 7 — I Gueye 6, O Mangala 7 — J Lindstrom 6 (J Branthwaite 88), D McNeil 6, I Ndiaye 5 (J Harrison 62, 6) — D Calvert-Lewin 5 (Beto 62, 5). Booked: Tarkowski, Keane.
Referee: A Madley.
