‘Flattering for Portsmouth, not us’: Southampton coach responds to Fratton Cup exit

The Blues XI advanced to the third round of the competition with a comfortable 5-2 success at Fratton Park against their fierce rivals from along the M27.

A side made up of fringe players and under-18s cruised into a four-goal lead by the 50th minute, before Southampton responded with two Jimmy Morgan finishes despite having Olly Lancashire sent off.

Koby Mottoh rounded off the success, however, on a night to remember for the first-year scholar with his first senior goal in stoppage time.

B team head coach Horseman viewed the game as useful experience for the under-23 players, and was clear he didn’t feel his side deserved to be on the end of the scoreline they suffered.

He told the Southern Daily Echo: ‘I thought it was brilliant.

‘Of course, you're a bit nervous because you want to win and you've got a centre-back who has played 300 Championship games and you've got a 16-year-old who only left school in July.

‘You think this is a good challenge but it's Southampton and we have a history for however many years where if you're 16-17 and you're good enough, you'll get a chance, but under-21s football alone won't prepare them.

‘I think we've had now five senior games in a really short space of time. Exeter (City) played eight players who start every week in League One and they beat Barnsley on the weekend. We're giving these teams good games.

‘The score is flattering for Portsmouth, not us. I need to find ways where we play in stadiums against reserve teams as that will help us speed up the gap between B team football and first-team football.’

With Southampton’s B team comprising their under-23 set-up, Danny Cowley pointed out a number of the players involved for Pompey fell into that age bracket - with 10 in the squad.

But there was also a number of experienced players such as Michael Jacobs, Kieron Freeman and Joe Pigott gaining much-needed minutes.

Horseman explained that was an experience which was a step up from their regular Premier League 2 fixtures for his players.

He added: ‘We've tried to design a games program this year, we have a really good Premier League 2 program where we play really tight teams, Aston Villa on the weekend are a really talented team, but it's never going to be enough to close the gap.

‘So these are the games we need. To come here with - with all due respect- and play Pompey's under-18s, it probably at this moment in time, with the talent we have, wouldn't be enough.’