Eckert: We always find a way
Tonda Eckert praised his players’ powers of recovery as Southampton prevailed in extra time to book another date at Wembley.
Saints fell behind inside the first five minutes as visitors Middlesbrough struck first at St Mary’s, but the hosts drew level at the end of a full-blooded first half.
Saints grew stronger as a tense second period preceded extra time, before Shea Charles – so often the man for the big occasion this season – hit a left-footed winner in the 116th minute, giving St Mary’s another of its greatest moments.
“It’s tough to put it into words,” Eckert said. “It’s been a long shift tonight, obviously not the start to the game that we wanted, but we spoke about this before the game – there might be very different scenarios and we don’t know which one it is.
“Obviously you want to start strong in the game, but sometimes it goes one way and sometimes it goes another.
“It just shows the belief and the character of the team that no matter how the game unfolds, we always find a way.
“I think that is credit to the players, credit to the staff to get the whole squad ready for this game, physically, and obviously to the supporters because the support has been outstanding.
“You could feel in moments of the game that the crowd carried us today, and that was massive.”
