Pre-season friendlies are meant to be forgettable. This one at Braunschweig won't stay long in the memory, except perhaps for one player. Southampton won it 1-0 on Friday. The goal that settled it carried a message the recruitment staff might want to sit up and take notice of.
Lewis Dobbin threaded a pass through the home defence on 35 minutes, and Damion Downs did the rest. After calmly rounding the goalkeeper, Downs dummied the covering defender before calmly rolling the ball into an empty net. He took it like a striker who scores every week.
Time to give the kid a run
Here is the plain truth. Southampton have spent the whole window hunting a centre forward, from Will Lankshear to Ivan Azon, while a promising young striker sits on the bench or goes out on loan.
Downs arrived from Köln last summer for a reported fee of around £7 million. Last season he was handed just 275 Championship minutes, barely enough to warm up in.
A player cannot prove much in that time, though he can take his chance when it comes, and against Braunschweig last night he did. He is 22, powerfully built and quick, with a finish that looked ready for this level. At some point the club has to stop shopping and start trusting what it already paid for.
A settled look behind him
There was plenty else to like. Daniel Peretz had a quiet night in goal. The shirt is his for good now after a permanent move from Bayern Munich, although for all his quality, he can still be a shade adventurous in possession. Last night, he kept it simple.
In front of him, Harwood-Bellis glided out of defence with the ease that makes him such a joy to watch. One pass from the back can turn a game. He looked every inch the classiest footballer on the pitch.
None of that changes where the biggest question sits. The forward line has been Southampton's headache all summer, a worry set out plainly in a look at the squad's summer needs back in June. With a four-point deduction to claw back in the Championship, goals will be gold dust.
Next Saturday brings SC Preussen Munster and another 90 minutes to share out. Give a good chunk to Downs. He has waited long enough, and on Friday he made the case himself.
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