Saints march on after Ipswich scalp

23 January 2010 17:09
The Southampton defender crashed in a superb long-range strike and Michail Antonio tapped in a second as the 1976 cup holders sent the winners from 1978 packing.[LNB]Pablo Counago pulled one back to set up a nervy finale but Roy Keane, who lifted the famous old trophy four times with Manchester United, will not be repeating the trick as Ipswich boss this season.[LNB]Instead Alan Pardew, a beaten finalist as a player with Crystal Palace and as manager of West Ham, takes his in-form League One side into the last 16.[LNB]Saints already have one foot in a Wembley final this season, leading MK Dons 1-0 after the away leg of their Johnstone's Paint Trophy encounter earlier in the week.[LNB]And they kept up their fine cup form with a deserved success from an entertaining tie at St Mary's.[LNB]Pardew gave an immediate debut to Lee Barnard, who only arrived from Southend 24 hours earlier, and the striker had a glorious chance to open his account after 10 minutes but his volley flew straight at Ipswich goalkeeper Arran Lee-Barrett.[LNB]At the other end Saints' former Ipswich keeper Kelvin Davis kept out efforts from Grant Leadbitter, Jonathan Walters and Damien Delaney.[LNB]But it was Saints who took the lead in the 31st minute through a screamer from Thomas.[LNB]The full-back, overlapping out on the right-hand corner of Ipswich's penalty area, met a Lee Holmes pass with a stunning half-volley which flew across Lee-Barrett and crashed into the back of the net.[LNB]Ipswich thought they had equalised just after the interval when centre-half Radhi Jaidi failed to deal with a long throw from Carlos Edwards and the ball ended up in Southampton's net, but referee Andy Hall disallowed the effort.[LNB]Ex-Saints striker Stern John then met a cross from Liam Rosenior but his header flew wide.[LNB]Southampton missed two chances in quick succession to double their lead. Lee Holmes crossed towards Adam Lallana but his effort was cleared off the line before Jaidi put a header wastefully wide.[LNB]But they did grab a second 15 minutes from the end when Lee-Barrett spilled Rickie Lambert's free-kick and Reading loanee Antonio tucked in the loose ball.[LNB]Lambert almost hit an audacious third after spying Lee-Barrett off his line but his long-range lob hit the top of the net.[LNB]Counago set up a grandstand finish when he tucked away Lee Martin's pass but Saints survived a frantic five minutes of stoppage time to secure their passage into the fifth round.[LNB][LNB][LNB]

Source: Team_Talk