Southampton vs Norwich City. The FA Cup Third Round.
St. Mary's Stadium.
Wednesday 18 January 2017 22:01, UK
Shane Long struck in stoppage time to give Southampton a 1-0 win over Norwich in their FA Cup third-round replay, setting up a home tie with Arsenal.
Long struck on the rebound in the second minute of stoppage time having initially seen his header saved by Michael McGovern after Saints had peppered Norwich's goal in the second half.
Long went close twice after a dire first half, while Nathan Redmond had also forced McGovern into a save as Norwich looked to hold on for extra-time.
Southampton will play Arsenal at St Mary's on Saturday, January 28 at 5.30pm.
Former Norwich forward Redmond spurned three fine second-half chances as this tie looked to be heading for extra-time, only for Long to produce his rescue act.
A dire first-half served up just one morsel for the paltry and wholly-underwhelmed crowd.
Sam McQueen's shot was tipped onto the post by McGovern, before bouncing to safety.
The distinct lack of movement from statuesque forward pairing Jay Rodriguez and Long undermined every Saints attack.
Cuco Martina and Josh Sims grafted manfully enough down the right, but to entirely no avail.
The hosts upped the tempo after the break, but that was hardly any challenge. Sims' low cross forced Ivo Pinto to turn the ball round the post, before Rodriguez flicked the ball across the face of goal.
Just when Saints sniffed the faintest scent of blood, Norwich broke with two quick passes. Kyle Lafferty just failed to connect with Josh Murphy's teasing cross though, letting the home side off the hook.
James Ward-Prowse curled a smart free-kick just wide, with the rippling netting tricking the home faithful into thinking the midfielder had made the breakthrough.
Replacement and ex-Norwich man Redmond then fluffed three fine openings for victory, all in the final stages.
First he failed to dig the ball properly from under his feet with a shot, then he fired too close to McGovern. And most wasteful of all, he scuffed wide from 12 yards.
Long failed to gain any purchase attempting a header on Redmond's cross, as Saints finally found fluency at the death.
And just when the clash looked odds-on for extra time, McQueen's cross let Long grind the ball over the line for the winner.
