Southampton legends in epic rematch 50 years on from FA Cup glory

Southampton’s legends team lost 5-3 to a Manchester United side littered with household names.

St Mary’s played host to an eight-goal thriller as Manchester United Legends beat Southampton Legends in a celebration of 50 years since the Saints’ famous FA Cup victory in 1976.

It wasn’t a win for the Southampton side, but over 4,000 away Manchester United fans saw their ex-pros come on top in a game for a great cause on the south coast.

Star-studded lineups

While neither side was the best of the best each club has had to offer throughout their history, plenty of pretty well-known names had runouts at St Mary’s.

Southampton Legends Starting XI: Tommy Forecast, Frazer Richardson, Franny Benali, Rickie Lambert, Andrew Surman, Michael Svensson, Victor Wanyama, Lee Barnard, Pelé, Jo Tessem, Jos Hooiveld.   

Southampton Legends Bench: Mark Blake, Ken Monkou, Glenn Cockerill, David Hughes, Sam McQueen, Matt Le Tissier, Mark Forbes.

Manchester United Legends Starting XI: Raimond van der Gouw, Ronny Johnsen, Wes Brown, Dimitar Berbatov, Louis Saha, Eric Djemba-Djemba, Antonio Valencia, Danny Simpson, Phil Bardsley, Darron Gibson, Danny Webber.

Manchester United Legends Bench: Kevin Pilkington, Danny Pugh, Bojan Djordjic, Fraizer Campbell.

Southampton icon Matt Le Tissier, who was wanted by Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United in his playing days, made sure to get his moment on the pitch, despite not being quite as fit as he used to be!

Over 14,000 tickets were sold for the occasion - a great success for a charity game.

An eight-goal thriller

Southampton initially took the lead inside 20 minutes, as Drew Surman's cross was turned home by Lee Barnard at the near post. 

Phil Bardsley cancelled out the Saints opener before half-time, before United made it 2-1 in the first few minutes of the second half. Much to the delight of St Mary’s, Rickie Lambert got his goal in the second half, then Lee Barnard scored again to take the game to three apiece by 70 minutes. 

Late Danny Webber and Phil Bardsley goals won the occasion for the Man United Legends team, but both parties will have come away happy, knowing they entertained football supporters in need of entertainment in the midst of an international break, while raising some money.

The focus now for the Saints' groundstaff is to keep that St Mary’s pitch in pristine condition ahead of Arsenal's visit in the FA Cup next Saturday.

Tonda Eckert’s side will hope to score as many goals as the Saints legends did, while relying on Daniel Peretz to keep the opposition’s tally down to a minimum!