To be blunt there was probably not a Saints supporter in the World who would not have taken a 2-1 defeat before the game had started, but in the end it was another case of giving away a goal and playing catch up.
This was a game of the Southampton second string v the Liverpool second string, Will Still rung the change and for a long time in this game it looked like it would work, but then with only two minutes to go before half time and the scores even, Alex McCarthy handed the home side a soft goal, Will Still had spoken of hw players have to get out f bad habits and the truth is McCarthy seemed to have missed the memo, under no pressure but with his defence being pressed instead of launching the ball and clearing his lines, he tried to play a short pass which was never on and Saints were a goal down which they never deserved to be.
The second half saw us battle hard and stay in the game, we had the better chances and none more so than when Adam Armstrong hit the bar and Flynn Downes headed wide when it seeed easier to score,
On 76 minutes Saints equalised and suddenly Southampton fans hoped that this might turn out to be a great day after all, but again some slack defending let us down and Liverpool scored a winner with 5 minutes to go.
With scorer Ekitike having been sent off for taking his shirt off after his goal, Will Still threw on the attackers to try and get back in the game, but it was too little to late and Liverpool saw the game out.
So what did we gain from this, very little actually, it was effectively two reserve sides battling it out so hard to say whether we played badly or not, several players put it claims for a place on Saturday through and that will please Will Still.
Also several players showed they were no better than those that are ahead of them, those that were calling for Alex McCarthy to replace Gavin Bazunu for instance would have had their case for that to happen suffer a big setback.
But there were positives, the team spirit for one and the fact that we showed we can defend, we just lack an organiser, but we already know that.
Now on to Middlesbrough on Saturday and we have to up our game, for this one, but more to the point we have to cut out those silly mistakes.