Leicester 0-0 Southampton (6-5 pens): Saints denied by VAR controversy
By Marc Walker
Southampton were defeated by Leicester on penalties in the Carabao Cup Fourth-Round on Tuesday evening.
A lively second-half from Saints saw a goal ruled out for offside and shots cannon off the crossbar from Nathan Redmond and Manolo Gabbiadini, but they would eventually lose 6-5 in the deciding penalty shoot-out.
A strong line-up was fielded by Mark Hughes, who made six changes. Most importantly, there were first Saints starts for Yan Valery and Michael Obafemi and a chance for both to impress.
In a first-half of very few chances, it was Obafemi who would have the first chance on his first Saints start.
The 18-year-old received the ball from Nathan Redmond and forward with pace that worried the Leicester defence. As he got towards opposing keeper Danny Ward, he produced a low shot that was blocked by the leg of the Welsh shot-stopper and turned away from danger.
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Big Danish international Jannik Vestergaard was back in the team for this game and he almost netted his first Saints goal when he met a corner with a header, but the ball dropped onto the roof of the goal.
Other than that, both sides were limited to shots from range in the first period as Wilfred Ndidi and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg tried their luck but to no avail.
An early substitution had to be made by Mark Hughes in the second-half as Matt Targett came off. He had clashed heads with Leicester’s Danny Simpson and seemed to be suffering for a while after that so was replaced by Cedric.
Just a minute after that, a huge chance went begging for Saints to take the lead.
Nathan Redmond drove towards goal and saw his powerful shot crash off the crossbar, but the ball fell to young Obafemi just six yards out. With the goal gaping though, he couldn’t sort his feet out to put his side ahead.
As with nearly every game, the opposition came back into the contest and had a strong spell of their own.
Jack Stephens had to be alert to make a crucial block before Angus Gunn denied Shinji Okazaki, and Saints would have then been relieved to see Demarai Gray’s shot drift wide of the post.
Then, with eight minutes left, Saints thought Steven Davis had got the all important winner. It looked to be a perfectly good goal, but was ruled out through VAR as Nathan Redmond was adjudged to have handled the ball intentionally in the build-up.
It was perhaps another moment that summed up how the season was going for Mark Hughes and his side and they were very unlucky to not be ahead.
With the game destined for penalties, Saints had one last chance as Manolo Gabbiadini stood over a free-kick just outside the area; he struck it beautifully but the ball didn’t dip quite enough and hit the crossbar. So unlucky again, but the match would end 0-0 and be decided by spot-kicks.
Saints would have been confident going into the shoot-out having beaten Everton on penalties in the Third-Round.
A perfect first five spot-kicks from both sides saw Steven Davis, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Nathan Redmond, Jannik Vestergaard and Cedric score, and it went to sudden death.
Manolo Gabbiadini had gone so close to winning it in normal time but would see his penalty saved, leaving Nampalys Mendy to win if for Leicester and put his side through to a quarter-final clash with Manchester City.