Southampton vs Crystal Palace. The FA Cup Third Round.
St. Mary's StadiumAttendance30,763.
Sunday 10 January 2016 10:07, UK
Crystal Palace have progressed to the fourth round of the FA Cup with a 2-1 victory at struggling Southampton.
Goals in each half from Joel Ward and Wilfried Zaha were enough to secure a win against out-of-form opposition, whose only response came from Oriol Romeu.
Palace, largely inspired by former Southampton forward Jason Puncheon, scored the opening goal in the 29th minute. Puncheon dispossessed former team-mate Steven Davis in central midfield, dribbled from around the halfway line into the hosts' penalty area and squared to give Ward a routine finish from directly in front of goal.
Southampton's low confidence clearly began to further deteriorate, and manager Ronald Koeman unsurprisingly responded at half-time by introducing Dusan Tadic and Juanmi for Maya Yoshida and Davis, reverting from a back five to a four.
Their response was almost instant. When Sadio Mane tested Wayne Hennessey with a 51st-minute shot, Romeu reacted to the rebound, and from close range produced a routine finish to score the equaliser.
Playing with greater belief, the hosts appeared the more likely victors, until, in the 68th minute, Palace again took the lead and, in doing so, sealed victory.
Goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg could only parry Puncheon's shot to the lively Zaha, and from the centre of the area, the talented forward sent a powerful shot into the back of the net.
Again, Southampton's heads dropped. This time, however, a substitution did not change the game. Late on, Jose Fonte's header against the crossbar and Virgil van Dijk's header against the post were the closest they came to avoiding a third successive defeat.
