Source: PA
Pardew: Youngsters lost focus
Southampton boss Alan Pardew felt some of his side were distracted by the prospect of playing at Wembley as they laboured to an unconvincing 3-2 home win over relegation-threatened Hartlepool.
Saints face Carlisle in Sunday's Johnstone's Paint Trophy final, and with a number of places still up for grabs, Pardew believes some of his younger players lost their focus.
Andy Monkhouse fired Hartlepool into a shock early lead before Lee Barnard, Rickie Lambert and Papa Waigo struck to give the hosts what appeared to be a comfortable lead. However, Neil Austin struck to force a nervy final 30 minutes for Saints.
"The result pleased me more than anything because we took our eye off the ball," said Pardew.
"It is a big game Sunday and as much as we tried to get it out of our minds some of the younger lads didn't. The ones who have been there and done it pulled us through but some of the younger ones delivered 10% less and it was enough to put in a performance that was disjointed. There were a lot of errors.
"Hartlepool had nothing to lose and they came at us out of the traps and were lively and we were not ready but we have got goal-scorers and they dug us out of trouble. We've got a resilience and a winning mentality here and that got us out of jail."
