Saints got the job done in the Battle of the Hamptons, but it was not pretty and to be honest not impressive for the travelling Southampton supporters and those watching at home on TV.

The only thing impressive about the game at the Sixfields stadium from a Southampton perspective was the superb goals from Matteus Fernandes and also the fact that Saints supporters made up around a 3rd of the 4,381 crowd and roared their team on in scrappy game.

Other than that there was not much to crow about in this game.

Will Still made 7 changes to the starting line up from Saturday's game against Wrexham, but given the depth of the squad at the moment, it didn't contain any youngsters with the least experienced players on show being Matteus Fernandes with only around 80 games to his name in all clubs and competitions and Shea Charles with a similar number.

So you would think that this game would have been slightly easier than it would turn out to be.

But the Cobblers were not about to roll over easily, they played with a passion that was lacking in the Saints side.

But although we were often on the back foot, on the plus point, we dug in and made sure that although Northampton had chances they only got 4 on target in the whole game, two of those were early in the game, Alex McCarthy diving to his left to make a smart save and then after he had dropped the ball trying to catch a cross, Taylor Harwood- Bellis was on hand to clear the home sides effort off the line.

We were not much better, we managed only 3 on target ourselves, but one of those was from Matteus Fernandes, who after receiving the ball from Cameron Archer, cut back and fired the ball home for the only goal of the game shortly after the break.

Saints made three changes just after the hour mark, more about fresh legs than tactical and although we had a lot of the ball, when we lost possession Northampton poured forward, the good news though was that we dug in and dealt with it well.

On 71 minutes Matteus Fernandes went off and there was the feeling that perhaps we were seeing him for one of if not the last times, perhaps he will leave, but no one could fault his commitment to Southampton FC, he cared not for the possibility of injury, as on Saturday you got 100% from a player whose dedication to the club that pays him is refreshing in these times when players constantly stick up two fingers at their clubs when someone dangles more money under their noses.

In truth at the game you felt that this had 1-1 & penalties all over it, but the good news was that we dug in and got the job done, it was not good to watch but at the final whistle we would perhaps feel that we had done it without having to rely on too much luck.

It was hard to think of an outstanding player, but as a team although we were disjointed through changes in the starting line up and then 5 changes mid second half, we rolled up our sleeves and got the result that we wanted ( I presume)

The only real worry was our failure to create too many clear chances and when we did, our failure to finish them is a little worrying, Damion Downs again got himself in a good position, but slightly mis timed his run meaning he received the ball slightly behind him rather than in front, a little reminiscent of his part in the winning goal on Saturday.

Hopefully that is more about getting used to the pace of the English game and a desire to do well at a new club than a fatal flaw.

Downs is not alone though, none of his rivals for a place up front are in goalscoring form themselves, Adam Armstrong desperately needs a goal and when he gets it, it will hopefully open the floodgates, likewise Cameron Archer who did some good work to get an assist when Fernandes scored the only goal of the game.

Ben Brereton Diaz is another, although you feel that by the end of the transfer window he will be the one that leaves the club.

In defence it was good to see both Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Charlie Taylor return after injury and it will be interesting to see how the defence looks on Sunday at Portman Road, I would expect to see at least one in the starting line up.

But at the end of the day, as on Saturday, at this stage of the season we are finding our feet, it is about getting through games and getting the result, we are finding a winning mentality again and that is important.

So from this respect we have moved forward, they say the sign of a good side is that you win when you don't play well and we have now done that two games in a row.

However the first big test of the season awaits us with the trip to Ipswich on Sunday and we are going to need to up our game for that one.

All Photos Via Reuters

underweststand added 09:55 - Aug 13 At least we got the win, but an untidy match at times and thankfully Northampton's poor finishing saved our blushes, and the win came from the only player who really looked dangerous in attack. I'm concerned that our midfield hasn't started to "click" yet and although they are good as individuals, they need to find each other better in attacks. Regardless of the fact that we have 4 or 5 strikers on the books none of them looked like scoring, and we can be grateful the Wrexham game was won by two "veteran" defenders. At 36 , I don't see McCarthy as a reliable no.2 ..and if Bazunu has any injury / form issues it could be very embarrassing. One issue that annoys is the likes of Harwood-Bellis and Flynn Downes get yellow-cards for.. arguing with the referee(!)..bl**dy nonsense. If you do get carded let it be for an important reason. There is no VAR ..and the ref. is unlikely to change his mind and apologise. Playing the game out with a yellow to your name can be restricting in critical situations and a second card then creates two problems in the longer term. Back to the beginning ...at least it's a win and we hope for a good draw in the next round.

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SalisburySaint added 09:57 - Aug 13 Thought Sugawara cracking shot that hammered into the post deserved mention, although thought his performance apart from this was poor again
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HythePeer added 10:31 - Aug 13 Is Northampton v Southampton a derby?
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HythePeer added 10:36 - Aug 13 Fornah needs buying.
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mgprobert added 10:37 - Aug 13 I only remember one Matty goal, but at least it was enough. To misquote something Napoleon probably never said "I'd rather have a lucky manager than a good manager”. I hope we havent used up too much of the 2025-26 pot of luck in the cup competition already. New system, changed team yes but considerable lack of confidence also - Downs should have at least 2 goals to his name by now. Lets hope we stay lucky!

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Colburn added 11:09 - Aug 13 McCarthy is indeed not the best no.2, dropping an easy catch which they nearly scored from. I blame the manager for this poor performance. Again we started with 3 centre backs and two full backs. I don’t care what anyone says, the two out there are not wing backs, they are full backs playing as wing backs. As such we don’t have the attack which this formation is supposed to bring. For most of this game and on Saturday, we were missing a player in the middle or up top, because of this stupid 3 centre back persistence against teams far weaker than us. Will Still needs to realise this quickly or it will be a poor season of frustration and our attacking players all losing their confidence. Downs would have scored if Diaz had managed a simple pass, instead he passed it behind him. Diaz has to go. Sugawara was awful apart from the strike which hit the post. It was a terrible team effort, probably the worst I have seen for a long time. Dreading Ipswich if we continue with this stupid formation which doesn’t suit our players. Groundhog Day…

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WestSussexSaint added 13:28 - Aug 13 A win is a win but the performance was disjointed at best and the lack of intensity was disappointing. Yes it was a warm evening but Northampton put in twice the effort Saints did and thankfully their lack of quality meant we weren’t punished. While Matty F showed his class for the goal he wasted immune on the effort side and several time I saw him trotting back when Northampton broke forward with no real effort to get in front of the ball. Defensively if THB is fit then he plays at the weekend instead of Edwards. I think the youngster has quality but again there were several mistakes including a really early booking. He is raw and needs a bit more time as a squad member rather than a starter. I’ll drive BBD to the first club that shows any interest in signing him. No quality, no effort and stop trying ill advise flicks in the middle of the park which turns the ball over. I’m done with him as a Saints player. I hope this performance was simply early season rustiness and as the squad settles and WS has more time with them the performances will improve. I also think we will be better against better opponents. As for the weekend I think Ipswich will have more concerns than us!

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halftimeorange added 14:16 - Aug 13 Bookings again for Downes and Edwards. I can see one or both getting sent off soon. The whole performance last night was lacklustre. Other than the Fernandes goal the Saints collective effort was a yawn-fest. I can't see us getting much from Ipswich. Since Stuart Armstrong departed we don't have a playmaker, nor anyone that can open up a defence. Hopefully, the impending close of the transfer window will see the right ins and outs.

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halftimeorange added 14:16 - Aug 13 Bookings again for Downes and Edwards. I can see one or both getting sent off soon. The whole performance last night was lacklustre. Other than the Fernandes goal the Saints collective effort was a yawn-fest. I can't see us getting much from Ipswich. Since Stuart Armstrong departed we don't have a playmaker, nor anyone that can open up a defence. Hopefully, the impending close of the transfer window will see the right ins and outs.

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ItchenNorth added 23:14 - Aug 13 At the time I couldn't see how Downs fluffed his lines, but having watched it a few times now, the cross from BBD was to Downs back foot. It was a poor cross by BBD rather than Down failure.
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mattthelegend added 07:18 - Aug 14 Yes it wasn’t a good performance, but other teams struggled in the cup Ipswich, Portsmouth and Wrexham. So hopefully just down to rustiness and early season. At least we won.
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underweststand added 09:01 - Aug 15 to Hythe Peer..... there may be a similarity in names, but my 1950's class teacher taught these names were loosely adapted from the old Roman place names; "South-home town" in this case "North home town" and there are several other places with a similar sounding translation... e.g. Littlehampton. ... "Derby games" (no-one has been very convincing as to why they are so called)...are usually between clubs that are geographically close and have some decent history of fixtures. Until 10 years ago .No-one would ever have called games v. Bournemouth.. a derby fixture. Just look at the results and difference in League positions since then (!). We played them regularly back in Div.3 South in the 1950's since Bournemouth twice avoided relegation from the Football League / bankruptcy in the intervening years and rarely ever got above League 1. There are a dozen other league clubs who are geographically closer than... "No'ton" with whom we have had a longer history of games. Nowadays it's B'mouth and that other side to the east ..along the M27.

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