Southampton 0-1 Newcastle: Defensive mistake costs spirited 10-man Saints

Southampton recorded a fifth loss in six games in all competitions after falling to a 1-0 defeat to Newcastle on Saturday afternoon.

Saints had to play 62 minutes of the game with 10-men after Moussa Djenepo was sent off, but it looked like they could get a result when Alex McCarthy saved Matt Ritchie’s first-half penalty.

However, a mistake from Yan Valery allowed the alert Allan Saint-Maximin to nip in and poke home to send the Magpies back to the North East with all three points.

Ahead of the game, Ralph Hasenhuttl chose to start Yan Valery at right-back and brought Moussa Djenepo in to replace the injured Stuart Armstrong.

Steve Bruce went somewhat positive too by starting Dwight Gayle in attack and supporting him with a trio of Matt Ritchie, Miguel Almiron and Allan Saint-Maximin.

Early on, Saints were thankful to Alex McCarthy as the goalkeeper went some way to making up for his mistake against West Ham last time out.

As a Jonjo Shelvey cross came into the area, the home shot-stopper reacted brilliantly to block an Dwight Gayle’ shot before getting up to deny Miguel Almiron twice from even closer range – a stunning triple save that brought fans to their feet all around St Mary’s.

Saints forced a number of corners in the first-half but were dealt a real blow on 28 minutes.

Moussa Djenepo took a heavy touch past an opponent and stretched to poke the ball away from Isaac Hayden but caught the Newcastle man high on his shin. Referee Graeme Scott initially showed the Malian a yellow card, but changed this to a red and sent Djenepo off after watching the incident on the touchline monitor.

The Saints man was visibly upset and clearly didn’t mean what he had done, and St Mary’s rose to its feet to applaud him off after the death of his mother recently.

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The hosts then had another VAR all against them when Newcastle were awarded a penalty shortly before half-time.

Sofiane Boufal carelessly used part of his arm to control inside the area and left officials with no choice to make, but luckily for the Moroccan, McCarthy came to the rescue again by producing another great save to keep Matt Ritchie’s spot-kick out.

Into the second-half, the home crowd really started to rally behind their players to push them onto a positive result – and it looked like it may well be working.

Saints were keeping a good defensive structure and were happy to keep shuffling across the pitch in formation with Newcastle looking uninspiring on the ball.

Breaks forward after winning possession back produced two chances for Shane Long. He wasted the first by skewing a shot into the crowd but duly showed great technique to stung the palms of Martin Dubravka with a volley with the second.

As the game approached the last 10 minutes, hopes continued to build and Saints continued to battle away – until their first mistake of the game cost them dearly.

Yan Valery had grown into the contest as it had gone on but delayed a clearance far too long with Allan Saint-Maximin hot on his heels, leading to the visiting Frenchman taking the ball just outside the area before advancing to poke into the far corner via the post.

Saints failed to create anything of note with a man less in the dying stages but must be praised for the character that they showed for much of this match. The team spirit that Ralph Hasenhuttl has instilled came to the fore, but wasn’t quite enough without a flawless defensive display.

They have hit a concerning patch of form at a critical stage of the season but will know that two more wins will get them to the 40-point mark that has never seen a team relegated from the Premier League.

Saints team

McCarthy, Valery, Stephens, Bednarek, Bertrand, Hojbjerg, Ward-Prowse, Djenepo, Boufal (Obafemi 85), Long (Adams 77), Ings

Subs not used: Gunn, Danso, Vestergaard, Walker-Peters, Romeu

Newcastle team

Dubravka, Manquillo (Lazaro 72), Lascelles, Fernandez, Rose, Shelvey, Hayden (Longstaff 79), Ritchie (Joelinton 61), Almiron, Saint-Maximin, Gayle

Subs not used: Darlow, Schar, Bentaleb, Yedlin