Southampton vs Preston North End; Sky Bet Championship
Southampton vs Preston North End. Sky Bet Championship.
St. Mary's StadiumAttendance27,233.
Southampton 0-2 Preston: Lewis Dobbin and Mads Frokjaer-Jensen net for North End as pressure mounts on Will Still
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Southampton and Preston North End at St Mary's on Saturday; Lewis Dobbin and Mads Frokjaer-Jensen net in victory for Lilywhites.
Saturday 1 November 2025 18:36, UK
Lewis Dobbin netted in back-to-back matches as Preston beat Southampton 2-0 to heap more pressure on Saints boss Will Still.
The Lilywhites bounced back into the play-off places with their first consecutive league wins since the opening two matches.
Aston Villa loanee Dobbin's first-half rebound set them on their way before Mads Frokjaer-Jensen added gloss in the 94th minute.
Southampton have won just twice at home since the start of last season and hover just three points above the relegation zone. They were booed off at the end of the match.
Southampton had plenty of early possession but struggled to break down Preston and subsequently offered little in front of goal.
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The first 25 minutes only offered two half-chances, at either end.
For Saints, Leo Scienza's in-swinger bounced through to Ronnie Edwards at the back post, he pulled back to Flynn Downes but his shot was blocked in the six-yard box.
A rare foray forward for the visitors almost saw Alfie Devine clean through but the zip from a soaking pitch took it away from him and the best he could do was a stretched poke wide.
Scienza managed to produce a sparsely seen moment of quality as he was fed by Finn Azaz on the counter. He cut onto his right foot and forced Daniel Iversen into a fine diving save.
The Saints fans had quietly groaned through wayward passes and poor football but after Dobbin had shot over on the counter, they had seen enough and erupted with fury.
They chanted "Sport Republic, get out of our club" at the ownership group, who have led the club since 2022.
And almost immediately, the negativity in the stands spread to those on the pitch, heads went down and Dobbin did not squander his second big opportunity.
Devine crossed low into the box, Dobbin showed great strength to hold off Edwards before getting a shot away. The initial effort was saved by Alex McCarthy but, as the goalkeeper lay on the floor, Dobbin climbed over him to flick in.
Gleeful Preston supporters mocked Still with "sacked in the morning" chants, but the home fans defended their beleaguered boss with a reply of "sack the board".
Boos inevitably met the half-time whistle but Southampton rallied at the break - with Still bringing Jay Robinson and Tom Fellows on and switching to four at the back.
Robinson immediately had a shot from distance blocked before Ryan Manning blazed a free-kick over the crossbar as Preston continued to defend impressively.
Caspar Jander drove a shot towards goal and it needed a combination of Iversen's fingertips and the frame of the goal to maintain Preston's lead.
Preston killed Saints off late on. Stefan Thordarson had already rasped a shot narrowly wide but deep into stoppage time he laid it on a plate for Frokjaer-Jensen to tap in.
The managers
Southampton's Will Still:
"I know where we are in the league and what that looks like from the outside.
"I am not going to give up or feel sorry for myself. I will fight as long as I'm here. I'm not going to stop trying but I don't think it is an instant fix either - you don't come into a place like this and click your fingers.
"We don't have to look further than our four walls. We have bags of talent in that dressing room.
"There is no point looking for excuses or saying 'this isn't fair' or 'isn't nice'. We need to grow a pair and get on with it. It is a fragile environment.
"The players are struggling for confidence in games."
Preston's Paul Heckingbottom:
"Everything impressed me about our performance. If we could bottle that up and take it with us, as an away performance, we would do that.
"We can be better with the ball but we were terrific. We created good chances and were very good without the ball, particularly in the second half. We thoroughly deserved it.
"We have some team out injured, nine of them - all good players. And one or two who played with knocks today and you would never have thought that. Credit to everyone.
"It would have been nice to have got the second goal earlier in the second half. We had our moments but I just thought we got a lot of things right."
