Report: Late Armstrong goal secures first league win

Saints’ Wembley hero was the man of the hour, pouncing to decide a tense game with a sweeping finish five minutes from the end.

There was still time for even later drama, as Everton substitute Beto, who hit the bar just before Armstrong scored, had the ball in the net four minutes later – a goal initially allowed to stand on-field, only to be ruled out for offside by the tightest of margins.

Russell Martin made one change from his last Premier League line-up, as Armstrong returned to make his first league start since August after opening his account for the season in Tuesday’s Carabao Cup win over Stoke.

That meant Adam Lallana kept his place in midfield, having been drafted into the team at Manchester City last weekend, while Tyler Dibling dropped to the bench after he was replaced by Armstrong at half time at the Etihad Stadium.

There was an early test of Aaron Ramsdale’s handling from Jesper Lindstrøm’s free-kick inside two minutes and a nervy moment when Flynn Downes was caught in possession on the edge of his own box, but otherwise Saints started on the front foot, with Jack Stephens stepping into midfield and Lallana knitting things together.

But when Lindstrøm whipped in a cross fractionally beyond Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Iliman Ndiaye fired over from a short corner that afforded him too much space, there was a sense Everton were finding their rhythm.

Visiting skipper James Tarkowski was the first player into the book for a ferocious tackle from behind on Cameron Archer that might have warranted more than a yellow card, but by the half-hour mark Saints were still yet to have a shot.

St Mary's shows its respects to the fallen ahead of kick-off

The hosts’ best moment of the half arrived five minutes before the interval. Kyle Walker-Peters fed the ball into Downes, whose first-time pass released Archer, whose pace carried him beyond last defender Ashley Young.

Forced slightly wide, Archer did the right thing in shooting low across Jordan Pickford’s dive, but just dragged the chance wide of the far post.

Neither of the England goalkeepers were being kept busy, though Ramsdale did make a routine stop from Ndiaye before Pickford got a crucial touch on a low cross from Armstrong, just diverting it away from Ryan Manning, who stretched in vain at the back post.

Taylor Harwood-Bellis, who scored his third goal of the season in midweek, nodded just wide from a corner on the stroke of half time, as all the action seemed to happen in the final five minutes.

Martin’s response was to introduce Joe Aribo for Lallana in a bid to raise the intensity. This was a game hanging firmly in the balance, as Ramsdale made an unorthodox save to keep out Orel Mangala’s 20-yard shot.

At the other end, Archer’s pace was troubling the Everton centre-backs, as Michael Keane followed Tarkowski into the book, before Manning’s resulting free-kick pinballed inside the box and Harwood-Bellis struck the loose ball against a defender.

Suddenly there was a roar from the Northam Wall, sensing something was coming. The introduction of Dibling in place of Manning only added to that enthusiasm, particularly when the 18-year-old immediately set off on a driving run deep into Everton territory.

A clever pass from the talented teenager then gave Walker-Peters room to fizz in a cross that Armstrong could not convert, arriving at an awkward height on his left foot.

Adam Armstrong made his first Premier League start since August

Saints were pushing, but had Ramsdale to thank for a stunning save midway through the second half, stooping low to his left to tip Keane’s header on to the post, as time stood still when the ball bounced back off the keeper and nearly ended up in the net.

The same Saints move involving Dibling, Walker-Peters and Armstrong served up another chance for last season’s top scorer, but he seemed caught in two minds whether to head the ball or not, and was way off target.

Everton substitute Beto had Jan Bednarek worried when he raced away down the left, forcing the Pole to bring him down, and only the presence of Harwood-Bellis, covering on the inside, prevented a red card following a VAR review.

Saints still had a free-kick to defend, and Ramsdale had to be alert to make another diving save to keep out Lindstrøm’s curling effort that was about to nestle in the top corner.

Another of Sean Dyche’s replacements, Jack Harrison, came close to making the breakthrough with a deft touch over the advancing Ramsdale – another heart-stopping moment, as the ball bounced inches wide, as if in slow motion.

By now it felt like “next goal wins” territory, and Beto should have scored when a deep free-kick was played back across goal and the striker smashed the crossbar from point-blank range.

With Everton still licking their wounds, Armstrong struck the decisive blow. Harwood-Bellis’s clever pass released substitute Yukinari Sugawara down the right, who picked out the run of Armstrong with an intelligent cutback to the penalty spot, where the forward was waiting to steer the ball home.

With Martin calling for calm from the touchline, the visitors thought they had snatched a share of the spoils when Beto raced through and calmly beat Ramsdale, only for a lengthy VAR check to rule the goal out for offside, before Saints survived more added time than the four minutes signalled to claim that all-important first win.

Southampton: Ramsdale, Walker-Peters, Harwood-Bellis, Bednarek, Stephens (c) (Sugawara 79), Manning (Dibling 59) Downes, Lallana (Aribo 45), Fernandes (Ugochukwu 90+3’), Armstrong, Archer (Onuachu 90+3’).

Unused substitutes: McCarthy, Bree, Amo-Ameyaw, Brereton Díaz.

Goal: Armstrong (85’).

Booked: Fernandes, Dibling.

Everton: Pickford, Young, Tarkowski (c), Keane, Mykolenko, Gueye, Mangala, Lindstrøm (Branthwaite 88), McNeil, Ndiaye (Harrison 62), Calvert-Lewin (Beto 62).

Unused substitutes: Virgínia, Begović, Patterson, Coleman, O’Brien, Armstrong.

Booked: Tarkowski, Keane.

Referee: Andy Madley.

Attendance: 31,143.