Southampton 2-2 Derby (3-5 pens): Saints dumped out of FA Cup on penalties

Southampton were dumped out of the FA Cup by Derby County on Wednesday evening as a penalty shootout was needed to decide the marathon Third-Round tie.

Saints streaked into a two-goal lead thanks to strikes from Stuart Armstrong and Nathan Redmond, but Derby struck back through Harry Wilson and Martyn Waghorn.

In the eventual shootout, Redmond would be the only player to miss his spot-kick and that left visiting captain Richard Keogh to send his side through to a Round-Four meeting with Accrington Stanley.

A huge chance fell the way of last weekend’s hero Shane Long after 20 minutes. Tyreke Johnson bent in a superb cross across the six-yard box that was met at close-range by the Irishman, but his shot was straight at visiting keeper Kelle Roos who made a good reflex save.

However, they were made fully aware of Derby’s footballing ability shortly after. A flowing move started with Richard Keogh playing out from the back and ended with Mason Mount skying a shot over the bar from a promising position.

Having weathered a decent opening from Saints, Derby built up a period of pressure themselves and thought they had gone ahead through Craig Bryson.

He turned home smartly after some neat play, but a VAR review showed that forward Martyn Waghorn was marginally offside whilst involved in the build-up.

20-year-old Johnson was making his first start for Saints but had picked up a yellow card whilst out of position at wing-back and was subsequently substituted at half-time.

The in-form Nathan Redmond came on in his place and his presence allowed Saints to change from a 3-4-3 system to a 4-2-3-1 to potentially produce more going forward in the second period.

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It seemed as though it could have been anyone’s game and the opening goal could have been crucial. Mason Mount and Stuart Armstrong would have long-range efforts that flew over shortly into the second-half.

Redmond was straight into the action and tested Roos with a powerful strike shortly before Saints took the lead.

Some intricate play saw Mohamed Elyounoussi dink a cross to the back post and Shane Long have his header cleared off the line, but Stuart Armstrong was following up to head home and make it 1-0.

The opener sparked St Mary’s into life and the home crowd would see Saints double their lead just two minutes later. Jack Stephens strode out from defence and slid through Redmond who produced a delightful dink over the advancing Roos.

Perhaps it should have been a comfortable victory from that point onward, but demons of the past struck for Saints and they let another two-goal lead slip.

First, Harry Wilson curled in a low free-kick that evaded everyone including Angus Gunn to half Derby’s deficit. Then Martyn Waghorn was left completely unmarked just six yards out to head home an equaliser and complete yet another comeback for the Rams in this FA Cup tie.

The tie would be all-square at full-time and an additional half-hour of extra-time would therefore be played.

Both sides looked tired after a highly competitive and hard-fought game, but Redmond would have the best chance to win the game in extra-time.

Oriol Romeu won the ball in midfield and drove forward before sliding the winger through, but his powerful effort was well blocked by Roos.

And so, with the scores still level at 2-2, penalties were needed to separate the two sides and decide who would advance to face Accrington Stanley in the Fourth-Round.

Martyn Waghorn, James Ward-Prowse and David Nugent made no mistake with their spot-kicks but Nathan Redmond skewed his well wide.

That proved to be the only miss of the shootout and it was left for Derby captain Richard Keogh to fire his side into the next round.