Southampton picked up their third consecutive win last night, defeating Preston North End 3-0 at St Mary’s Stadium.
It was a comfortable evening for the South Coasters, who have now put themselves firmly in the mix for automatic promotion.
With 12 points still to play for, they reside four points off the top two and five off league leaders Ipswich Town, who have played a game more.
Southampton legend Francis Benali was in the Sky Sports studio last night and noted one ‘huge positive’ about the display.
Francis Benali pleased with Southampton defence
Russell Martin‘s side have always scored goals this season, so that’s never really been an issue. Defensively is where they’ve come up stuck, though, against North End, they barely gave them a sniff.
“The way they went about it, they dominated in the first half and unlike some other games recently where they dominate a game so much but not really putting teams to the sword, that third goal in the first half ended that for Southampton tonight,” Benali said.
“For me again, only having kept one clean sheet in their last nine games, another clean sheet tonight was a huge positive for his side, especially seeing Alex McCarthy come in.”
It was a controlled display from the hosts, which is exactly what Martin is trying to implement.
Dominating possession and controlling the transitions will massively help their leaky defence and as Benali alluded to, it was an assured performance from Alex McCarthy.
It seems he’ll be favoured over Joe Lumley in the final four games of the season.
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Why did Alex McCarthy start over Joe Lumley?
For much of the season, Lumley has been named as the backup goalkeeper on the substitutes bench.
So when Gavin Bazunu picked up an Achilles injury in the warm-up, many were anticipating the summer signing to step in as a late replacement.
However, surprisingly, McCarthy made the starting line-up for only the second time this term, with the other coming in a 3-1 defeat to Gillingham in the EFL Cup.
“I thought Al was brilliant. He’s trained so well. It could have been so easy for him to be deemed as third choice because he’s not on the bench,” Martin explained.
“He’s travelled everywhere, trains like a beast, supports the other goalies, the experience he has. He’s played for England and he’s a really good goalkeeper.
“We’ve seen what Joe can do and he’s been great in the games that he’s come in and done well, but I wanted to have a look at Al because.
“It was just a decision I felt in my gut at that time. Thankfully for us, it’s paid off and he only had one shot to deal with all tonight.”