Southampton vs Sheffield Wednesday. Sky Bet Championship.
St. Mary's StadiumAttendance30,189.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Southampton and Sheffield Wednesday at St Mary's on Saturday | Adam Armstrong stars as Russell Martin's men extend unbeaten run to 19 games
Saturday 13 January 2024 18:38, UK
Adam Armstrong produced an attacking masterclass as Southampton dispatched Sheffield Wednesday 4-0 to equal their longest English Football League unbeaten record.
Top scorer Armstrong scored one and set up Che Adams, Ryan Fraser and Sekou Mara as Saints leapt into the top two for the first time since the opening day and closed the gap to table-toppers Leicester to 10 points.
Saints are now unbeaten in 19 league games and 20 in all competitions, which is their best run since becoming a Football League club in 1920.
The club's all-time record, the only better than the current run, of 24 in 1896 and 1897 came when they were known as Southampton St Mary's and had yet to move to the Dell.
The hosts would enjoy the better of the first half but the first two minutes belonged to Wednesday.
First, Saints keeper Gavin Bazunu took a heavy touch and was mugged by Josh Windass, but the attacker could not squeeze in.
From the corner, Michael Ihiekwe headed wide - but the visitors would not have another first-half shot as Saints monopolised the possession.
Centre-back Ihiekwe had to think fast to run back onto his own goal line after Fraser had volleyed into the ground and over goalkeeper Cameron Dawson.
Taylor Harwood-Bellis headed a corner over but otherwise, it was a test in patience until Adams opened the scoring in the 35th minute.
Adams, who is out of contract in the summer and has been linked with a Premier League move this month, latched onto an Armstrong cross via a Bambo Diaby error, beat a defender and lashed into the bottom corner.
It was the Scotland international's eighth goal of the season, and Armstrong's 10th assist.
Wednesday brought on Ashley Fletcher and Will Vaulks at the break and rallied when the former pinged a low effort towards the bottom corner, with Bazunu flinging himself to his right to save.
In the 63rd minute, Saints gave themselves daylight with a smart counter which saw Adams nick the ball off Diaby and slot through to Stuart Armstrong. He found Adam Armstrong in acres of space to notch for the 14th time this campaign.
Bazunu battered away a Windass free-kick before Di'Shon Bernard cleared Adam Armstrong's attempt off the line as the game became open.
Fraser continued from the two goals he scored against Walsall in the FA Cup by adding a third in the 75th minute.
The Newcastle loanee steered in but Adam Armstrong's burst, stepovers and vision to pick out Fraser across the box was the catalyst for the goal.
Armstrong was at it again with five minutes to go when he squared for substitute Mara to tap in to make it nine straight St Mary's wins.
Southampton's Russell Martin:
"We are on an unbeaten run where I'm immensely proud of the players. It is incredible what they have achieved and we have to keep it going as long as possible.
"We have never gone 'we need to chase Leicester and Ipswich'. We are concentrating on ourselves and we'll see where it takes us.
"It has never been a conscious focus for us but I want them to go and make some history next week.
"I want them to be remembered for that. I want them to do it and it has been an incredible achievement.
"I told them that the biggest incentive was finishing the game in second, for how long who knows. But it is a reward for the hard work they have put in and we are really in the race and the hunt now.
"For the players to put themselves in that position of 20 games unbeaten in all competitions is amazing.
"The way they have done it has shown they are growing. It has been a pleasure to watch but it is now our job to keep them hungry.
"If they do it then we will be in with a really good chance of achieving what we wanted to achieve."
Sheffield Wednesday's Danny Rohl:
"If he carries on going I will be happy either way.
"He's been so good and probably playing in a position he doesn't really want to play. He wants to be the number nine in the team but he's playing a role he is playing so well in.
"The goals and the assists are what strikers get judged on but there is so much more to it than that with Adam.
"It is a big challenge at the top of the table but when you see what they are doing they are a good team.
"Because of my past I cross my fingers for Southampton but it won't be easy. If they do a job like today then they'll stand a good chance.
"That was hard. Southampton played well. It was a game we had to perform well and make no mistakes.
"Everyone was convinced we could have taken something. It is different to three months ago when we came to games and thought there wasn't a chance. We had the confidence to try something.
"This team is a different league to us. For us it is about staying in the league and for them it is the Premier League.
"All in all it was a deserved victory for Southampton."
