Hartlepool United 1, Southampton 3

Nov 25 2009 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

Flinders made another good block at his near post from Lallana, but Turner’s men remained on level terms and Radhi Jaidi nearly gave them an unlikely lead when he misjudged Brown’s cross and sent a clearing header centimetres wide.

Hartlepool had the wind at their backs in the second half, but it was taken out of their sails as Southampton took the lead just seven minutes after the restart when Lallana curled a delightful shot beyond the dive of Flinders from 25 yards.

It was a moment of class befitting an England under-21 international and underlined the quality the Saints still have at their disposal, despite the financial troubles which pushed them into administration over the summer.

Pool, though, rallied again and another former Sunderland player Kelvin Davis made two brilliant stops in a matter of seconds, diving to tip Denis Behan’s ferocious free-kick round the post.

And then, from the resulting corner, the keeper again showed sharp reactions to tip Sam Collins’ header over the crossbar.

That was Davis’ last contribution before he was replaced by Batosz Bialkowski because of injury, although Hartlepool struggled to test the Polish replacement, finding it difficult to control their forward passes and set-pieces because of the strong gusts of wind.

Southampton made the game safe late on, Flinders having a nightmare moment as his weak clearance hit Lambert, rebounded into his arms, only for the goalkeeper to spill the ball for the striker to roll it into an empty net.

Hartlepool’s misery was completed when Ritchie Jones was shown a second yellow card following a touchline scuffle as the game briefly turned ugly.

HARTLEPOOL: Flinders, Austin, Collins, Liddle, Hartley, Brown, Jones, Humphreys, Monkhouse, Behan (Greulich 66), Boyd. Subs (not used: Cook, Clark, McSweeney, Sweeney, Fredriksen, Bjornsson. Sent Off: Jones (85).

Booked: Jones. Goal: Monkhouse 16.

SOUTHAMPTON: Davis (Bialkowski 61), Murty, Trotman, Jaidi, Harding, James, Hammond, Schneiderlin (Wotton 68), Lallana, Lambert, Connolly (Antonio 81). Subs (not used): Papa Waigo, Mellis, Thomas, Perry.

Booked: Schneiderlin, Trotman, Wotton.

Goals: Lallana 29, 53, Lambert 82.

Ref: Neil Swarbrick (Lancashire) Att: 3,818