Eckert had spent the build-up telling James Bree to get more bodies into the box, so when Finn Azaz clipped a ball over the Portsmouth defence in the 20th minute on Sunday, the right-back was already sprinting towards the far post.
He took it down with his right foot and hit it with his left. The ball brushed the inside of the post on its way in.
A full-back arriving in that spot was a decision already made on the training pitch. Eckert confirmed as much afterwards.
The far post and the plan
“We’ve prepped all week to make sure we get him forward a little bit more than the last games,” he said.
Bree backed that up, explaining that his only job was a clean first touch. When you clock eyes with Azaz, he added, the quality is already there.
That is useful news for a team that leans on Cyle Larin and Finn Azaz for so much of its attacking. A right-back who can finish gives Eckert one more route to goal.
Saints Marching put Bree first among its derby winners and losers. That piece also credited him with eight duels won to protect the clean sheet, and Eckert singled out the very important one v ones Bree dealt with late on down that side.
A January recall at Fratton Park
In January, Bree’s future at Southampton was in doubt.
He was out on loan at Charlton when Eckert pulled him back in time to start the last derby, a 1-1 draw at Fratton Park. He has been a regular since. Nine months on he has a three-year contract, signed in June, plus the winning goal in the fixture that settles bragging rights on the south coast.
The club’s own match report put him in the same sentence as Danny Ings and James Beattie. Pretty decent company for a right-back.
Another angle of THAT James Bree goal from the away end, featuring limbs in the Chapel 👀#SaintsFC pic.twitter.com/5V371PN6Xl
— SaintsExtra (@SaintsExtra) October 12, 2026
He finished the day bandaged up. He called the moment an unbelievable feeling and said holding on with ten men made it more special.
Ten men is the other half of the story. Cameron Bragg was sent off just before the break, and Saints Marching noted that possession fell to 34 per cent in the second half. Without the goal, that half would have been a siege with nothing to show for it.
So a right-back whose future was in doubt in January ends up in derby folklore, thanks to a plan from Eckert, a pass from Azaz and a sublime left foot finish at the far post.
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