Eckert: Derby triumph a long time coming
Tonda Eckert reflected on a “very special” day as Southampton became the first team to take three points in a south coast derby for 21 years.
James Bree scored the only goal of the game in the 20th minute, collecting a sublime pass from Finn Azaz and steering the ball home via the far post.
Saints looked comfortable in the first half, but the dismissal of Cameron Bragg for a second yellow card shortly before the interval made their task tougher, leaving Eckert even more satisfied with his side’s first Championship clean sheet of the season.
“It was about time,” he said of Saints’ derby triumph. “It’s very special. It was a big week for us, and obviously a big occasion today.
“I think we had a good start in the game, obviously a couple of moments in the first half but overall good control, but we knew that we had to dig deep in the second half.
“I actually think we had a very big chance to go [2-0] up after half time, but then it is what it is – you need to defend for some moments, you need to be ready for that, and I think the boys have done that exceptionally.”
Eckert started with James Ward-Prowse in a narrow position on the right in front of Bree, giving Saints more control in possession and the goalscorer more space ahead of him to attack.
“We’ve had a look at the games we played [against Portsmouth] last year and I think we were lacking a little bit of control in both games – the home game and the away game – so that was a decision today to make sure we had a little bit more control on the ball,” he explained.
“We had this over big parts of the first half, an excellent goal from James, and then we hadn’t had a clean sheet yet, so we needed to dig deep – probably even deeper than we wanted to – but I think that will be a big push going into the next games.
“It is so important. With the amount of games, sometimes it needs to be enough to score one goal. We’ve talked about this. I don’t think we’ve conceded too much, but we hadn’t had a clean sheet yet, so it was about time today.
“The boys have done a very good job, dug very deep, all of the ones that came off the bench have given us a big, big push. The supporters have given us the push that we needed, especially in the moments when it became tough. It’s a good result, and now we move on.”
