Demanding Martin pleased with pre-season opener
Russell Martin will continue to demand improvement from his Southampton team, even after a blistering start to pre-season with a thumping 7-1 win at Eastleigh.
Saints’ first friendly of the summer saw them make the short trip to the Silverlake Stadium, where the National League hosts were put to the sword by Martin’s men, who led 3-0 at half time thanks to an Adam Armstrong brace and Will Smallbone’s composed finish.
Further goals followed through Sékou Mara’s penalty, Ryan Manning, Yukinari Sugawara, one of four fresh summer signings to feature, and Charly Alcaraz.
Eastleigh did reduce the arrears to 4-1 just before the hour mark, but Saints were in ruthless mood, helped by impressive contributions from teenagers Tyler Dibling and Sam Amo-Ameyaw.
“I’m annoyed we conceded a goal from a set play – it’s my job to be demanding and I am actually annoyed about it, but on the whole it was a really good evening for us,” Martin reflected.
“Eastleigh were great – the whole thing, the setup, the pitch was great, the people, two Southampton legends in the dugout for them (Kelvin Davis and Danny Butterfield), so it’s nice to have that relationship. They made it hard for us, they worked really hard.
“There was some really good stuff. The new guys, who haven’t been here long at all, fitting in seamlessly and doing some really brilliant stuff. We'll learn a lot from it.
“We are blessed with some truly talented outstanding youngsters, who have to keep taking their opportunities when they play with us and train with us, so that was really exciting.
“I’m really pleased with it on the whole. They didn’t get sloppy, didn’t get lazy, didn’t get complacent and played with really energy, which was good.”
Charlie Taylor, Nathan Wood and Sugawara each played 45 minutes, but Ronnie Edwards was substituted just 18 minutes into the game as a precaution, while Adam Lallana did not feature at all after feeling some muscle tightness during the warm-up.
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