Charles: The adrenaline just gets you!
Shea Charles’ first thought was to share the moment with the travelling fans after seeing his 96th-minute shot find the far corner of the net to cap a spectacular Southampton comeback at Leicester.
Charles was one of three players sent on at half time by head coach Tonda Eckert with Saints trailing 3-0 to the flying Foxes.
But fellow substitutes Ross Stewart and Ryan Manning found the net either side of captain Jack Stephens to level the scores, before Charles produced a moment that will be cherished for many a year, caressing a left-footed curler into the net in the final minute of added time to complete the comeback.
“It was obviously an unbelievable second half,” the match-winner said, before describing his crowning moment.
“I got a good ball down the line, I thought I was going to get an assist by playing the ball across, but Rosco (Ross Stewart) set me back, and I didn’t even watch it hit the back of the net – I’ve just seen it as it was going inside the post and the adrenaline just gets you.
“Straight towards the away fans – they’ve travelled a good way to watch us, and obviously they deserve that, so I hope they enjoyed that.
“My brother just sent me the video, so I’ve just watched it back already! That was incredible, and I think I’ll watch it a few times on the way back home.
“The first half? That’s just football sometimes. You come away to a good team like this and a couple of mistakes and you’re 2-0 down, 3-0 down.
“At half time you just need cool heads and I feel like we’ve got that. The manager said that if you want to win the game, you’ve got to go out there and show what you can do, and I felt like we went out and did that.
“The three of us that came on had to bring a different energy to the game, I feel like that was the main thing for us three to go on and do, to get the earlyish goal, and build from there. I thought the performance was really good second half, and that’s just football.
“The Championship is all about momentum, so to be on a five-game unbeaten run with four wins, and being able to win away against a team like this, is incredible for us.”
It’s been a frustrating season for Charles, who excelled in the Championship on loan at Sheffield Wednesday last term, but has only recently returned from three months on the sidelines with a hamstring injury.
“I feel like I started the season really well, coming back to the club after a good loan spell at Wednesday, so having the injury was obviously a bit of a disappointment – a bit different for me, my first injury,” he added.
“But I managed to get through that, the people at the club were unbelievable with me. Obviously my teammates, my friends back home, my family as well, so they helped me a lot. I’m just focused on getting back fit and working my way back into the team, that’s my main goal.”
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