Southampton 1-1 Spurs: Boufal’s late equaliser forces FA Cup replay

A late equaliser from winger Sofiane Boufal saw Southampton draw their FA Cup Fourth-Round tie with Spurs on Saturday and force a replay.

The well-contested match saw the visitors to St Mary’s take the lead with a brutal counter and finish from Son Heung-Min, but Saints pressure told towards the end of the game and Boufal was left to slam home three minutes from time.

A pleasing build-up ahead of kick-off saw both Ralph Hasenhuttl and Jose Mourinho field strong sides to face off in front of a big crowd on the South Coast – rare with the FA Cup not being a main priority for some Premier League clubs these days.

Both sides started the game as they meant to go on and a nice attacking flow developed in the first-half.

The first real chance fell the way of Son Hueng-Min, who should probably have put Spurs ahead after being played through on goal by Dele Alli before screwing his shot wide of the far post just seven minutes in.

Saints were breaking forward with purpose too though, and Kevin Danso – filling in a right-back for the injured Cedric – saw his potentially goal-bound effort blocked well.

Just before the half-hour though, Spurs thought that had claimed the lead.

Saints couldn’t clear away and the visitors worked an opening for Giovani Lo Celso to stroke a shot into the net, but VAR ruled his strike out after showing Son had touched the ball from an offside position.

Spurs were finding joy from firing direct passes over the Saints defence which sometimes became exposed, and Angus Gunn did very well to deny Lucas Moura from close-range.

10 minutes before half-time though, Saints had the best chance of the game so far and it was brilliantly worked.

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James Ward-Prowse lined up a free-kick in a good position but he lofted the ball directly over the defensive wall instead of crossing, and this put the alert Danny Ings straight through on goal.

The ball was bouncing awkwardly, but the in-form striker chested around the onrushing Hugo Lloris and was very unlucky to see his volley cleared well off the line.

Into the second-half, Saints began to really press for the opening goal as their forward players started to combine well.

An intelligent run from Michael Obafemi was found well by a pinpoint pass from Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, and the youngster’s low ball across the face of goal was diverted fractions wide of the far post by Danny Ings at the near post.

This miss proved costly when Spurs broke forward brilliantly to take the lead.

Giovani Lo Celso produced a superb run to beat a number of Saints challenges in the middle of the park, leading to the play spreading out to Son on the left. The South Korean had time to control before firing expertly into the corner and celebrating in front of the packed away end.

With no points to play for here though, Ralph Hasenhuttl went for it in the final stages by sending Sofiane Boufal on for Kevin Danso.

It still looked like it wasn’t going to be Ings’ or Saints’ day when the striker missed another golden opportunity when he headed wide from Nathan Redmond’s cross, so the striker instead turned provider as a draw was deservedly rescued three minutes from full-time.

Ings was played into the area and cut a pass back towards the penalty spot without looking – perfectly finding Boufal to slam a shot high into the net.

This result means that both sides will have to play an extra game in the newly allocated winter break period in two weeks time, but both must be applauded for taking the FA Cup seriously.

Saints team

Gunn, Danso (Boufal 71), Stephens, Bednarek, Bertrand, Armstrong (Djenepo 43), Ward-Prowse, Hojbjerg, Redmond, Obafemi (Adams 74), Ings

Subs not used: Lewis, Yoshida, Romeu, Smallbone

Spurs team

Lloris, Aurier, Alderweireld, Sanchez, Tanganga, Fernandes (Lamela 56), Winks, Alli (Dier 88), Lo Celso, Moura, Son

Subs not used: Gazzaniga, Vertonghen, Sessegnon, Foyth, Ndombele