Shrewsbury battled hard and it took a late goal from Saints to make the score look comfortable, but this was a virtual training game for a mixed bag Saints side who only looked in any danger when they gave the ball away themselves.
In truth although most of the pre game talk was about what a weak side Saints would have to put out, truth is that had everyone been fit, I think the only two changes would have been debutants Chauke & Watts on the bench with perhaps Smallbone and Tella instead, possibly Salisu in at the back had he been fit.
Saints strategy was clear from the start, the intensity of Premier League games was taken down a gear and the tactic was pass the ball and make the opposition work, conserve energy and make sure we don't pick up anymore injuries or suspensions.
It worked perfectly well, and after an early shot that Forster saved well, the visitors were restricted to counter attacks which we usually dealt with easily and three occasions when Forster had to be quick off his line to hack clear, two of them were from short back passes.
Things went to plan when Dan N'Lundulu took a chested pass and stroked it into the far corner after only 16 minutes, after that we played the match as if it was a training ground game or pre season friendly.
The display wasn't as free flowing as usual, but that is not surprising given the number of changes made, but the longer the game went on and the more desperate Glenn Hoddle got in the commentary for Shrewsbury to score, the more we started to control the game, the only real second half scare being when Pierre headed across goal when he really should have had a go at goal.
The second took a long time to come, but when it came in the 89th minute it was another peach of a free kick from James Ward Prowse.
All in all Ralph Hasenhuttl will be satisfied with the nights work, he had a couple of debutants show him what they can do, some fringe players like Valery and Vokins confirm their promise and a win in the FA Cup with no further injuries or issues.
Saints had 74% possession, 18 attempts on goal compared to the visitors 6 and 6 of those 18 on target compared to 1 for the Shrews.
A good nights work, the only downside being that the scoreline did not reflect our domination.
We can now march on to the 4th round and take on Arsenal with confidence when hopefully we will have a player or two back from injury.