Portsmouth XI 5 Southampton B 2: Neil Allen's verdict - Blues take south-coast derby honours in eventful Hampshire Senior Cup occasion

As for the competition which served up the occasion, the Hampshire Senior Cup has rarely been a big draw, let alone at Fratton Park with two-and-a-half stands closed.

Nonetheless, a south-coast derby can never be underplayed, irrespective of this particular triviality to both clubs’ season.

It was Pompey who claimed victory, securing a 5-2 success through a double from Reeco Hackett, Zak Swanson, Michael Jacobs and substitute Koby Mottah.

Actually not quite the rout the home support among the 2,543 crowd would have been anticipating when the Southampton B side were reduced to 10-men for the final 43 minutes.

Indeed, the visitors’ numerical disadvantage initiated a surprise recovery from 4-0 down to 4-2, following a double from Jimmy-Jay Morgan, fraying a few nerves.

But there was to be no stunning fightback, regardless of Southampton rallying impressively and the Blues’ display tailing off.

Then, in stoppage time, substitute Koby Mottah, who earlier had struck a post, converted Denver Hume’s left-wing cross to seal the emphatic scoreline.

In fairness to Southampton, they proved far more testing opponents than Aston Villa Under-21s the previous Tuesday when the Blues triumphed 5-0.

Yet Danny Cowley had declared his intent by naming a strong Pompey side for the second-round encounter.

And those players recorded the south-coast victory the supporters craved as the Blues progress in the competition.

Of Cowley’s starting XI, only Josh Dockerill was without first-team experience, with the Blues side similar to the one which faced Aston Villa Under-21s last Tuesday.

Cowley had been expected to name a youthful team, dipping into the Academy to largely supplement his line-up, as he did in last season’s competition.

Yet for the second round encounter, he selected the likes of Joe Pigott, Denver Hume, Reeco Hackett and Michael Jacobs.

They were joined by Kieron Freeman, Ryan Tunnicliffe, Jay Mingi, Josh Oluwayemi and Zak Swanson.

Dockerill and fellow second-year scholar Adam Payce, who has featured twice for Pompey this season, were the Academy’s representatives.

Meanwhile, the bench was made up entirely of first-year scholars, including Harvey Laidlaw and ex-Fulham pair Brian Quarm and Dan Murray.

Southampton kicked off the match and, within the opening two minutes, Dominic Ballard manufactured space for himself inside the box and drove a shot narrowly wide of the far post.

Yet it was the Blues who broke the deadlock after six minutes, through Swanson.

With Pompey’s players still around the penalty area following a home corner, Tunnicliffe combined with Jacobs down the right, with the latter clipping in a cross.

The ball found its way to Swanson on the far side of the box, who took a touch and, with plenty of time, calmly stroked a right-footed shot into the far corner of the net.

There was then a scare for the Blues when Swanson carelessly lost possession in front of his own penalty area and Jimmy-Jay Morgan managed to get off an angled shot, yet it was straight at Josh Oluwayemi.

Another poor pass out of defence by Swanson moments later sparked another Southampton attack, this time Samuel Amo-Ameyaw not cleanly striking the ball from a great position.

The first booking of the south-coast derby went to Ryan Finnigan, following a lunge of Hume as the left-back surged past down the flank.

Southampton were still well involved in proceedings and when Ballard got the better of Freeman inside the box, he fired a dangerous cross from the right which narrowly eluded his team-mates.

On the half-hour mark, delightful play between Payce and Tunnicliffe saw the ball played down the right to Hackett, who cut inside and his rising left-footed shot deflected over.

From the resulting corner, the ball fell to Hackett outside the six-yard box, who spun and finished past Oliver Wright to make it 2-0.

The goal had arrived against the run of play, not that the Fratton faithful were complaining having seen their team double their advantage.

Just seven minutes later it was 3-0 when Jacobs wriggled his way into the box and his shot took a deflection to help steer it into the net.

There were no substitutions at the break, but Southampton were reduced to 10 men just three minutes into the second half.

Dockerill’s long clearance was pursued by Pigott, who beat Lancashire for pace, only for the visitor to bring down Pompey’s striker.

As the last man, a red card was inevitable, and within two minutes it was 4-0 following a delightful Blues move.

Mingi started it off, surging forward before laying the ball off to Pigott on the right-hand side of the box and his cross was prodded home first time by Hackett.

Southampton pulled one back on 53 minutes when Freeman was caught upfield and a ball through the middle put Morgan clean through, who calmly clipped the ball over the advancing Oluwayemi to make it 4-1.

On 58 minutes, the 10 men made further inroads into the deficit, this time Morgan heading home a corner from the left to make it 4-2.

Moments later, the crowd enjoyed a scuffle started by Swanson and Samuel Bellis which prompted others to join in, with both players handed yellow cards once matters had calmed.

Hackett had a glorious chance to claim a hat-trick on 81 minutes, twisting and turning inside the box with a defender throwing his body in the way and the keeper to beat.

However, he slammed the ball into the side-netting and the moment in front of the Fratton End went begging.

Then Pigott crossed from the left and substitute Koby Mottah’s first-time shot from a testing opportunity hit the far post and bounced wide.

The youngster did, however, make it 5-2 in stoppage time, meeting Hume’s left-wing cross with a first-time finish to seal a south-coast derby win for Pompey.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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