U21 Report: Woking 2-1 Saints
Southampton Under-21s put in a strong second half showing but fell to a 2-1 defeat against Woking in the National League Cup.
Woking held a 2-0 lead at half time thanks to Josh Kelly’s opener and an Abdul Okunola own goal.
Saints fought back in the second period and scored through Sufianu Dibaga, before seeing Moses Sesay twice force strong saves, but it proved to be not enough for a point on the night.
Saints started the game in confident style and had the first shot of the contest on eight minutes when Sesay looked to curl one from range, but saw his strike fly over the bar.
The first opening for Woking came on 19 minutes when Kelly wriggled his way towards goal and poked the ball past Josh Jeffries, but no Woking teammate was on hand to finish and Saints cleared their lines.
Midway through the first period, Woking defender Timi Odusina forced the game’s first save when he met a free kick delivery from the left, although his header proved simple for Jeffries to gather.
However, the hosts did manage to break the deadlock just before the half hour mark when Kelly nipped in to slide his shot into the bottom corner from close range.
It was then 2-0 shortly afterwards when a lofted ball into the Saints penalty area saw the unfortunate Okunola head into his own net.
Saints went close to halving the deficit just before half time when Romeo Akachukwu saw a shot skid just wide of the near post, with Woking’s Will Jääskeläinen rooted to the spot in goal.
Tonda Eckert’s side made a fast start to the second half though, and did manage to find the net when Sillah Dibaga ran onto a ball through the Woking defence and finished calmly across goal.
In their next attack, the visitors almost equalised with a quick flurry of goals of their own, as Sesay found room to fire in a fierce shot from the edge of the penalty area, but the ball was beaten away by Jääskeläinen.
The danger posed by Woking’s more senior players remained throughout and they almost restored their two-goal cushion when Harry Beautyman looked to find the bottom corner, but Jeffries made a strong save to turn wide.
Moses Sesay was again denied by Jääskeläinen late on as Saints looked to end a strong half by levelling the game, but it was Woking who took the win.
Saints are next in action on Friday 19th September when they host Burnley in Premier League 2, with kick off at St Mary’s Stadium set for 7pm.
Woking: Jääskeläinen, Hinds (Andrews 45'), Okoll, Odusina (Akinola 45'), Richards, Forster-Caskey (Beautyman 45'), Akinola, Turner, Ward, O'Brien (Drewe 45'), Kelly (Trickett 67')
Subs: Ross, Effiong.
Goals: Kelly (29'), Okunola (33' og).
Saints: Jeffries, Tabares (Whittaker (64'), Moore, Dobson-Ventura, Okunola (Fry 64'), Sillah Diabaga (Gathercole 77'), Bragg (c), Williams (Kakay 64'), Sesay, Akachukwu, Oyekunle (Sainsbury 82').
Subs: Shombe, Fry.
Goals: Sillah Dibaga (54').
