B Team Preview: Saints vs Middlesbrough

Saints vs Middlesbrough

Premier League 2

Staplewood Campus

Sunday 30th October, 12:00pm GMT

Saints returned to league action last weekend with a narrow defeat on the road against Newcastle United.

Dave Horseman had to make a handful of changes to his side as Ryan Finnigan and Luke Pearce were called up to the first team squad, whilst Jimmy-Jay Morgan, Jayden Meghoma, and Tyler Dibling were all away with England under-17s.

After falling behind early on, goals from Dom Ballard and Nico Lawrence put Saints ahead at half time before a second half comeback earned all three points for the hosts.

It was only the second league defeat of the season for Horseman’s youngsters who sit in fifth place in the table with 13 points from seven games.

Middlesbrough make the journey down to Hampshire with just one win in their previous five league games.

They hosted top of the table Leeds United last weekend, as goals from Calum Kavanagh and Bryant Bilongo weren’t enough to prevent a 4-2 defeat.

Mark Tinkler’s side have, however, scored in every league game so far this season as Boro find themselves in 4th in the table, one point and one place above Saints having played two games more.

Last time out, in the 2021/22 campaign, Saints B emerged victorious with a 1-0 win when Middlesbrough travelled to Hampshire in Premier League 2 Division 2.

A solitary goal from Jayden Smith in the 35th minute proved to be the difference at St. Mary’s Stadium.

“There was lots of learning [from the Newcastle game], the first half we were as good as we’ve been all season, but it was a real mixed bag" Horseman admitted after Sunday's defeat.

“The second half was disappointing because we are much better than that. We probably need days like that for us to keep our standards.

“Middlesbrough are a really good team, they’re quite high in the league - it’s good to be back in PL2 to see what the boys are like closer to age for age.”