Blackburn Rovers suffered their heaviest defeat of the 2023-24 campaign as Southampton controlled the weekend fixture from start to finish, showing the disparity of quality and finances between the two sides, as they ran rampant on the South Coast.
After Rovers returned to winning ways with a 2-1 home victory over Bristol City at the start of the week, Jon Dahl Tomasson made one change from Tuesday night’s triumph as James Hill returned to the team to replace Niall Ennis, who was available from the bench. Also available from the bench – in a matchday squad for the first time since hobbling off in the 2-1 win at Millwall in October – was Dominic Hyam, who the boss described as ‘committed to Rovers, but unable to play more than 10 minutes.’ With the team news announced, Callum Brittain – who was lining up in an attacking role – was set to make his 200th career appearance come 3pm, with most of them coming on the right of defence, rather than in the attacking position he had been deployed in at Rovers over the past few weeks.
As the Rovers fans who made the long journey from Lancashire all made their way into the away end at St. Mary’s, it was Andrew Moran who got the game underway as they came to Hampshire looking to end the Saints’ mammoth unbeaten run that stretches back to October.
During the opening moments, Leopold Wahlstedt was called into ‘sweeper keeper’ action as he came out to sweep a worrying through ball by Jan Bednarek, but the Swede was attentive enough to come out and avoid giving the Saints a foul for handball, as he cleared his lines inside the opening 90 seconds.
After two and a half minutes, former Rover, Adam Armstrong was sent through with a high ball, but despite his eventual shot being well saved by Wahlstedt, the play was called back by referee Graham Scott, after the official deemed the Saints skipper had fouled Harry Pickering.
Stuart Armstrong came the closest to breaking the deadlock in the early stages as just under five minutes in, the Scot was afforded half a yard of space more than usual as he cut inside, onto his right-foot and looking to curl an effort past Wahlstedt, inside the far-post, but luckily for Rovers and the Blues fans behind the goal, the ball lacked the required curl to nestle into the back of the net.
In the 11th minute, a long ball forwards saw the Armstrongs combined, as Stuart chipped the ball into Adam, who knocked it down into the path of Will Smallbone. The former Stoke City loanee’s confidence seemed high as he tried to take on a half-volley first-time, but his effort cleared the crossbar.
James Bree was next to pepper the Rovers goal, but the full-back’s effort proved a simple save for the Swede between the Rovers posts to make.
In the 22nd minute, Rovers were able to muster up their first shot on target of the game after they won a free-kick on the edge of the Southampton box. A well-worked set-piece routine saw Sammie Szmodics sting the palms of Gavin Bazunu, before a scramble in the box saw the former Manchester City goalkeeper scoop the ball up to end the phase of pressure.
Callum Brittain soon became the first player to be booked in the 25th minute after he pulled back a red shirt as Rovers looked to regroup on the transition.
Rovers nearly played themselves into trouble in the 28th minute as a ‘hospital pass’ saw Leopold Wahlstedt scrambling to clear his lines as the speedy Adam Armstrong closed him down. The Swede’s composure won outright as he narrowly managed to put the ball behind for a corner, before the former Rovers Player of the Season could intercept the ball into the back of the net.
Southampton’s dominance grew as the game continued with James Bree having the next opportunity as he latched onto a back-post cross, but failed to keep his effort down.
In the 36th minute, Leopold Wahlstedt was again called into action to deny the opening goal as he got onto the end of a left-hand side cross by Stuart Armstrong with a side volley, but the goalkeeper again showed his prowess to deny the hosts.
Moments later, Flynn Downes saw yellow after he was booked for dissent for complaining about a decision given in Rovers’ favour.
On the stroke of half-time, Southampton had a corner which James Bree delivered right onto the toes of Leopold Wahlstedt. The goalkeeper, however, was rooted to the spot as he tussled with Samuel Edozie and Adam Wharton with the Southampton man coming out on top as he manoeuvred his body well to force the ball over the line to give Russell Martin’s side a deserved 1-0 lead.
After the restart, three minutes of time were allocated onto the end of the first-half, but despite more Southampton dominance, the whistle for the break was soon sounded, as both teams made their way into their respective dressing rooms.
Russell Martin would have been delighted with the manner in which his side had stuck to their principles and showed their quality throughout the course of the first period, despite taking the lead so late on in the half. The former Norwich City skipper would have few words for his young and hungry team as they prepared to enter the field for the second-half.
Jon Dahl Tomasson would have been bitterly disappointed with the late goal that his side had conceded despite putting in a solid first-half defensive display. The Champions League winner would have called upon his side to play with more intensity and bravery, given they had nothing more to lose as they looked to try and play more expansive football to find a route back into the tie.
The second period was soon began by Southampton, who were looking to see out the game to earn their seventh home victory of the campaign.
In the 47th minute, Southampton picked up from where they left off as their dominance continued as Stuart Armstrong looked to curl one in from the left-hand side, in similar fashion to his first-half effort, but Wahlstedt was on-hand to pull off a fantastic save, but was unable to prevent a corner, despite Rovers clearing the ball.
Arguably, Rovers’ best chance of the game came in the 52nd minute as Callum Brittain threaded Andrew Moran through in-behind the Southampton backline, with the young Irishman attempting a snapshot that saw Bazunu spill the ball before the Saints were able to clear their lines.
In the 55th minute, Rovers’ task became infinitely harder as Callum Brittain was given his marching orders for the pettiest of incidents. After a foul was given against James Hill, Brittain kicked the ball away in frustration, which led to Graham Scott having no other option but to produce a second yellow card, which meant that Brittain would be unavailable for next Saturday’s clash with Watford at Ewood Park.
Jon Dahl Tomasson reacted to the dismissal by making two changes as Jake Garrett and Harry Leonard replaced Sondre Tronstad and Andrew Moran.
In the 62nd minute, Harry Leonard was threaded through as he burst through on goal, but his low drive proved simple for Bazunu to claim.
The host’s advantage soon doubled as the game headed into the 64th minute as Stuart Armstrong managed to bag the goal that he had been threatening all afternoon. Smallbone picked the ball up halfway inside the Rovers half and spotted the run of Flynn Downes who had split the ten-man Rovers defence. The Saints skipper cut inside to try and create a shooting angle on his left-foot, but the Scot swept the ball home to double the relegated side’s lead.
Southampton soon moved for changes of their own after extending their advantage as Ryan Fraser was introduced, replacing the first goalscorer, Samuel Edozie, whilst Shea Charles took the place of the booked Flynn Downes.
The cards were out in the 67th minute as Will Smalllbone and Sammie Szmodics were both booked within minutes of each other for separate incidents.
A third Saints change soon came as Jack Stephens replaced former Rovers and Burnley defender, Taylor Harwood-Bellis.
In the 70th minute, Rovers made another change as Lewis Travis replaced Adam Wharton.
Joe Aribo became the latest player to get booked by Graham Scott as he was cautioned for a foul, which saw Rovers play an advantage.
In the 76th minute, Southampton made their final two changes as both Armstrongs – Adam and Stuart – departed the field and were replaced by Sékou Mara and Carlos Alcaraz.
Leopold Wahlstedt was again on-hand to save Rovers from conceding a third in the 83rd minute when he came out to deny substitute Mara’s effort with a fantastic save after he spread himself.
With 84 minutes on the clock, Southampton were handed an advantage on a plate to treble their advantage to 3-0 as Hayden Carter brought Sékou Mara down inside the penalty area as Southampton were awarded a penalty in the closing stages of the game. Fellow substitute, Carlos Alcaraz took the responsibility of the spot-kick but turned himself into a laughing stock as he tried to outsmart Wahlstedt by attempting a panenka penalty, but the Argentinian’s effort cleared the crossbar.
As the clock hit 90 minutes, eight minutes of added time were called for by Graham Scott as the game began to peter out in the closing stages.
In the 91st minute, Leopold Wahlstedt was again called upon to make a fine save to try and deny Ryan Fraser the third goal of the afternoon, which he did with a fine save at full stretch, as he continued his performance as arguably Rovers’ best player of the day.
Despite his multiple stops to continually deny the Saints, the third goal did eventually come through Sékou Mara. Ryan Fraser did well to skip past his man and deliver a back-post cross towards the unmarked Frenchman who stretched to tap the ball into the back of the net as the scoreboard became 3-0 in the 97th minute.
The fun didn’t stop there for the Saints, as the clock ticked over into the 99th minute, Carlos Alcaraz had the last laugh as he atoned for his previous missed penalty to make it a rout against Rovers and inflict Jon Dahl Tomasson’s joint heaviest defeat at the helm. After Smallbone saw his shot parried by Wahlstedt, the goalkeeper could only feed the Argentinian substitute with an assist as he swooped in ahead of the Blue and White shirts to smash home from close-range to kill the afternoon off at 4-0.
Just before the final whistle, the game’s final act saw Hayden Carter booked in the 100th minute as the game’s conclusion soon materialised in what turned out to be a horrendous afternoon on the South Coast, despite a relatively successful first 43 minutes.
Rovers were absolutely dismantled by a team frothing with quality at every position. The lack of pace on the counter really showed again for Rovers as they failed to make any of the rare opportunities that they had on the transition really count. Gavin Bazunu would have been forgiven for pitching up a deck chair and relaxing for most of the afternoon, as was the rarity of Rovers’ opportunities. There isn’t much more to highlight with the performance being so poor.
Of course, with it only being 1-0 at the time of Brittain’s dismissal, there could have been argument to say: “well, if he stayed on we could have nicked a point”, but it was incredibly hard – once the first goal went in – to see where a Rovers attempt at goal would have come from. Whilst the manner of the defender’s dismissal is unacceptable, it would be ridiculous to solely blame him for the heavy defeat. Rovers now have a week to mull over their poor display before returning to Ewood Park for the ‘Fans Takeover’.
With goals flying in all over the Championship, Rovers have slipped a couple of places down to 11th following that defeat. Their goal-difference has also taken a battering down to -4 as they remain on 31 points from 22 games played.
As mentioned, the ‘Fans Takeover’ returns to Ewood Park, with a bumper crowd expected next week when the Blues host Watford on Saturday 23rd December at 3pm. After Christmas Day, Rovers are on the road again for the Boxing Day battle in Yorkshire (Tuesday 26th December) against Huddersfield Town with a 3pm start pencilled into the diaries before they travel to Humberside on Friday 29th December, to face high-flying Hull City for the 7:45pm start.
