Report: Saints step up pre-season against Gillingham
Southampton played two 60-minute matches against Gillingham at Staplewood Campus this afternoon as Will Still’s side continued their preparation for the new season against the League Two outfit.
GAME ONE
Saints started brightly with two chances falling to Ryan Fraser inside the first 10 minutes.
Fraser, operating in a central No 10 role, latched on to a ball over the top from Jack Stephens and sent a measured lob over the advancing goalkeeper that bounced against the face of the crossbar and back into play.
The diminutive Scot had another sight of goal soon after, this time denied by the outstretched boot of keeper Jake Turner from James Bree’s slide-rule pass.
The two behind-closed-doors matches were played with a competitive edge
Saints had complete control of the possession but this was still a game played in a competitive spirit, with Fraser on the receiving end of a heavy challenge before Flynn Downes and Welington snapped into tough tackles of their own.
Saints got the goal their control merited three minutes before the scheduled drinks break, as Stephens saw a low drive cleared off the line following a corner, before Archer gobbled up the loose ball to score his second goal in two games.
Half time: Saints 1-0 Gillingham
The only change at the interval saw Tyler Dibling replace Adam Armstrong, as Saints continued on the front foot.
Flynn Downes headed over from a Bree free-kick before a fine run and pass from Jay Robinson fed the run of Archer, who was expertly denied by the stooping Turner as the striker tried to round him, before the keeper climbed to his feet to repel Fraser’s follow-up.
Cameron Archer followed up his winner against Eastleigh with another pre-season goal
Aaron Ramsdale was forced into his first save of the afternoon to keep out Remeao Hutton’s skidding drive, before Marcus Wyllie missed a glaring chance to equalise 10 minutes from time.
Ramsdale had to backpedal to tip away an awkward cross before bravely throwing himself in the way of Joe Gbode’s close-range strike, but the keeper kept his clean sheet intact.
Full time: Saints 1-0 Gillingham
Saints: Ramsdale, Bree, Stephens (c), Quarshie, Welington, Smallbone, Downes, Armstrong (Dibling 30), Fraser, Robinson, Archer.
Goal: Archer (27’).
Gillingham: Turner, Hutton, Ogie, Smith, Clark, Little (c), Coleman, Gbode, Williams (Bridle 45), Wyllie, Palmer-Houlden.
GAME TWO
Two goals in two minutes gave Saints a flying start in the second 60-minute encounter, as Ross Stewart and Tyler Dibling opened their pre-season accounts.
Dibling had a hand in the first when he traded passes with Stewart and then prised open the Gillingham defence with a clever pass inside the left-back for Sam Edozie, whose low first-time cross was easily finished off by Stewart when his dart to the near post gave the striker a tap in.
Tyler Dibling was instrumental in Saints' two early goals
Saints doubled their lead with an even better goal when Ben Brereton Díaz’s brilliant pass with the outside of his right foot released Ryan Manning, whose cutback to the edge of the box picked out Dibling for a fine finish, steering a low first-time shot inside the keeper’s right-hand post.
Stewart might have added to his tally after more good link-up play down the Saints left between Brereton Díaz and Manning, but the former Sunderland man could not adjust his feet in time to direct the Irishman’s cross on target.
Kuryu Matsuki stung the palms of keeper Glenn Morris with a vicious left-footed shot as Saints pushed for a third in their most impressive period of the contest.
Half time: Saints 2-0 Gillingham
Matsuki forced another acrobatic save soon after the restart, while Morris was busy again to keep Charlie Taylor at bay after a terrific burst from the defender, who took the captain’s armband for the game.
Gillingham had been unable to trouble Gavin Bazunu in the Saints goal until an innocuous altercation from a corner prompted the award of a spot-kick for the visitors, given for shirt pulling, which Jack Nolan dispatched with aplomb.
Kuryu Matsuki scored his first Saints goal to complete the scoring
Joe Aribo, a first-half substitute for Dibling after the teenager played the last 30 minutes of the first game, came close to restoring Saints’ two-goal lead with a cracking curling shot from 20 yards that clipped the crossbar on its way over.
There were further chances late on for Shea Charles, who sent Morris sprawling to his right, and Brereton Díaz, who dragged one just wide, before Matsuki was in the right place to complete the scoring, turning in Aribo’s low cross from virtually on the goal line.
Full time: Saints 3-1 Gillingham
Saints: Bazunu, Sugawara, Wood, Taylor (c), Manning (Kayi Sanda 45), Charles, Matsuki, Edozie, Dibling (Aribo 15), Brereton Díaz, Stewart.
Goals: Stewart (11’), Dibling (13’), Matsuki (57’).
Gillingham: Morris, Webster, Masterson, McKenzie (c), Trialist, Beszant, Waldock, Nolan, Theodore, Dack (Bridle 45), Andrews.
Goal: Nolan (45’ pen).