Report: Saints leave Birmingham feeling the blues

Becoming accustomed to quick starts at St Mary’s, Saints had two by the 24-minute mark courtesy of two men in fine form.

For a fifth consecutive match, Finn Azaz found the back of the net with a finish oozing confidence, before Adam Armstrong registered his eighth of the season to put the hosts in the driving seat.

Demarai Gray reduced the arrears early in the second half to tease at a response, but the boosted Blues were brought back down to earth soon after by Armstrong’s second as the official Eckert era began in positive fashion.

Eckert marked his first match as Head Coach by making two changes to the side that lost out at Millwall last weekend.

Flynn Downes returned to the line-up after serving a one-match suspension, while Leo Scienza recovered from illness to feature from the start, with the Academy duo of Cam Bragg and Jay Robinson dropping to the bench.

On a grey afternoon in SO14, Saints continued to light things up at St Mary’s having scored five first half goals in their previous two outings at home.

Finn Azaz took just six minutes to open the scoring. (Photo: Matt Watson)

The tally became six in no time, when Azaz continued his own glistening form by dispatching a drilled left-footed strike into the bottom corner beyond James Beadle from the edge of the box.

Claiming an assist on his return to the side, Scienza then went close to getting a first goal at St Mary’s, cutting in from the left before curling an effort towards the far post that had to be tipped around the post by Beadle.

Making up for lost time last weekend, Scienza remained at the heart of the action and came within the width of the crossbar of claiming a second assist of the afternoon.

Weaving his way to the byline, the Brazilian’s cutback was perfect for the on running Tom Fellows, but the wing-back’s thunderous first-time effort cannoned back off the woodwork and away from danger.

Failing to heed the warnings, Birmingham continued to feel the Blues on the south coast as they fell two behind just past the midway point of the half.

Azaz found Armstrong who’d dropped into space 25 yards out from goal, dropping a shoulder past Saints Academy graduate Christoph Klarer and thumping the ball into the far corner with a strike Beadle will look back on with some disappointment he didn’t keep out.

Adam Armstrong took his tally for the season to eight and nine. (Photo: Matt Watson)

Perhaps at fault for Saints’ second, the England Under-21 international made amends as the break approach, once again getting a fingertip to a Scienza shot that was destined to nestle in the back of the net, keeping Chris Davies’s side vaguely in sight with the second 45 to go.

The lead could have become three inside a minute of the restart when Azaz volleyed Manning’s chipped ball to the back post just wide, but instead the lead was reduced to one on 54 minutes.

Firing just over the bar moments before, Gray adjusted his aim and after cutting in from the left wing dispatched a curling strike into the far corner to throw the game wide open.

With the travelling fans still celebrating, they were silenced just four minutes later by Armstrong’s predatory instincts.

When Beadle denied Scienza for a third time with a parried save, there was to be no reprieve when from six yards Saints’ number nine was on hand to stroke home his second of the afternoon.

The match ball looked destined to be going home with Armstrong just two minutes later when a quick counter saw Scienza pick out the striker at the back post, with a sprawling Beadle hand somehow keeping out Armstrong’s shot from six yards.

Having been terrorised by them, the Blues would’ve been pleased to see Scienza and Armstrong withdrawn for Robinson and Cameron Archer on 63 minutes, as Eckert introduced some fresh legs.

Making a double switch of their own, it was one of Birmingham’s substitutes who missed a guilt-edged chance to setup a tense final quarter-of-an-hour.

Oriol Romeu made his first St Mary's appearance since 2022. (Photo: Matt Watson)

When Phil Neumann’s header came back off the post it looked to all inside St Mary’s that Kyogo Furuhashi would tap into an empty net from six yards, only to somehow scoop his shot over the bar into the Chapel Stand.

Becoming a memorable day all round, Oriol Romeu made his return to St Mary’s soil for the first time since 2022, welcomed onto the pitch by a rapturous chorus of his name by the home faithful.

Sent on to see the game out, Romeu and Saints needed Gavin Bazunu to preserve the two-goal advantage late on, when Kyogo’s deflected shot was brilliantly flicked over the bar by the outstretched foot of the Irishman.

St Mary’s nearly had a final moment to celebrate when Archer raced through one-on-one in stoppage time, but Beadle raced from his line to deny the former Aston Villa striker a moment to savour, although Saints weren’t to be denied a third straight win in SO14.

Southampton: Bazunu, Fellows (Edwards 87’), Harwood-Bellis, Wood, Stephens ©, Manning, Downes, Jander (Romeu 80’), Azaz (Aribo 80’), Scienza (Robinson 63’), Armstrong (Armstrong 63’).

Unused substitutes: McCarthy, Quarshie, Bragg, Fraser.

Goals: Azaz (6’), Armstrong (24’, 58’).

Booked: Aribo.

Birmingham City: Beadle, Tomoki, Neumann, Klarer ©, Cochrane (Robinson 59’), Doyle, Paik, Roberts (Anderson 80’), Stansfield (Dykes 86’), Gray (Koumas 86’), Ducksch (Kyogo 59’).

Unused substitutes: Allsop, Cashin, Leonard, Osayi-Samuel.

Goals: Gray (54').

Booked: Tomoki.

Referee: David Webb.

Attendance: 29,309.