U21 Report: Nottingham Forest U21 1-0 Saints
Southampton’s Under-21s ended their pre-season schedule with a narrow defeat against Nottingham Forest Under-21s at the Nigel Doughty Academy.
A second-minute penalty from Ateef Konaté proved to be the difference as Saints did everything but put the ball in the back of the net in their final test before the 2023/24 campaign.
The hosts fielded some first-team experience with Harry Arter and Jonjo Shelvey anchoring the midfield and Mohamed Dräger at right-back, with striker Emmanuel Dennis introduced in the second-half, whilst Saints made three changes from their last pre-season outing.
Forest opened the scoring after just two minutes through a contentious penalty call; after the referee deemed Tyrese Fornah to be just inside the area when he was fouled, Konaté stepped up to convert the resulting spot-kick.
Saints searched for an instant response and came inches away as Dom Ballard hit the post with two opportunities.
The first came after good work from Tyler Dibling, who dug out a cross which Ballard met with his head and clattered against the far post.
Then, a bouncing ball caused confusion between Forest’s Pharrell Johnson and goalkeeper Will Brook allowing Ballard to sneak in, but the Saints striker could only divert his header against the other upright.
The home side could only fashion half-chances after their early opener, as Dräger’s angled shot was deflected into the side netting in their closest opportunity.
Just before the half hour mark Saints hit the woodwork once again, this time after the best move of the afternoon.
Dibling combined well with Derrick Abu on the right wing and the full-back delivered a cross to Princewill Ehibhatiomhan at the far post, who cushioned the ball down for Ryan Finnigan to fire a rasping shot that cannoned off the crossbar.
Ryan Finnigan struck the crossbar in the first half. (Photo: Chris Moorhouse)
The half closed out with a further chance for both sides as Shelvey and Kamari Doyle both dragged efforts wide of the mark from the edge of their opposing penalty areas.
In the second half, Saints took control and dominated large swathes of possession as they hunted for a response.
Doyle fired over from the edge of the box before substitute Harrison Miles, the youngest player on the field called up from the Under-16s, tested the goalkeeper with a driven shot from distance.
Despite confident spells of passing play, any clear opportunities became hard to come by as the game wore on.
Saints couldn't find their equaliser and closed out pre-season with a narrow defeat, as concentration turns to the start of the Premier League 2 season on Sunday 13th August.
Nottingham Forest: Brook, Drager, McAdam, Thompson, Clarridge, Johnson, Arter, Shelvey, Mighten, Fornah, Konate.
Subs: Bott, Larsson, Norkett, Nadin, Gardner, Perkins, Loughlan, Dennis.
Goals: Konaté 2.
Yellow cards: Shelvey 5.
Saints: Mohamed, Abu (Davis 58), Payne (Bailey 46), Simeu, Meghoma (Lett 58), Trialist (Miles 46), Dibling (Stepien-Iwumene 58), Finnigan (Bragg 58), Ballard, Doyle, Ehibhatiomhan (Robinson 58).
Subs not used: McNamara.
Yellow cards: Simeu 63.
