Southampton picked up an important win for their promotion hopes on Saturday afternoon.
The Saints welcomed Sunderland to St Mary’s, in a key game for their pursuit of a top two spot.
With Ipswich Town losing earlier in the day, this was a big chance for Russell Martin‘s side to close the gap to the top three.
The first half certainly went to plan for the hosts. Adam Armstrong netted a brace, the second from the penalty spot, to put Southampton 2-0 up at half time.
That would change significantly after the break. A deflected Romaine Mundle effort and a stunner from Jobe Bellingham saw the visitors pull things back to 2-2 with 20 minutes of normal time remaining.
Southampton though would rally to pick up a vital three points in their pursuit of promotion, with substitute Joe Rothwell netting a double of his own to make it 4-2.
Yet despite that, one Saints player who did not have things all his own way in that game, was Gavin Bazunu.
Gavin Bazunu ‘ridiculously unlucky’ against Sunderland
As has been the case throughout the whole of the Championship campaign so far, Bazunu started in goal for Southampton on Saturday afternoon.
He found himself conceding his 46th and 47th league goals of the season in that match, with those strikes from Mundle and Bellingham.
However, journalist Alfie House had sympathy with the 22-year-old over those goals he conceded.
Giving his verdict on the Southampton goalkeeper’s afternoon following the second Black Cats goal, the Daily Echo reporter wrote on X:
“Gavin Bazunu ridiculously unlucky today – can do nothing about either. Joe Aribo’s header falls to the Sunderland number seven and he fires from range.”
Southampton will now look to make it three consecutive wins when they return to action after the March international break, when Middlesbrough come to St Mary’s.
Southampton won’t care much about those goals
It is unlikely that those goals conceded by Bazunu will be of major concern to Saints fans right now.
This is the stage of the season where picking up results is more important than they how they are secured.
That is particularly the case for Southampton, given they have to keep pace in the race for automatic promotion.
Indeed, the way in which they responded to the blow of being pegged back to 2-2 from 2-0 up, is encouraging for what might be to come over the next few weeks.
Bazunu meanwhile, has been a consistent presence between the posts in the league this season, where he does seem the most reliable option.
It would therefore be a surprise if he is not still in goal when Southampton return to action in three week’s time.