Stoke City coach Alex Neil was left to rue a ‘moment of quality’ from Stuart Armstrong as the Southampton midfielder scored a stunning free-kick in Tuesday’s 1-0 Championship win in the Potteries.
A Southampton side on the back of four successive defeats going head-to-head with an in-form Leeds United team touching down on the coast on the back of four straight clean sheets?
This is the Championship, we are talking about. A topsy-turvy, twisty, logic-defying world where nothing makes sense. So of course Southampton hammered Leeds 3-1 on Saturday lunchtime, racing into a three-goal lead after just 31 minutes.
Tuesday’s follow-up victory away at Stoke was not quite so convincing. It was, however, one of those nights where the performance pales in comparison to the importance of three highly-valuable points, Southampton ensuring that coupon-busting, form-defying Leeds win was not merely the exception which disproved the recent rule.
Stuart Armstrong scores Southampton stunner
Adam Armstrong was the hero against Leeds. And it was namesake Stuart who lifted Southampton level on points with sixth-place Norwich in Staffordshire. The Scot whipping a free-kick James Ward-Prowse would have been proud off in off the Stoke City crossbar.
“We get undone by a free-kick that I didn’t think should have been a foul, and subsequently one moment of quality where the lad bends it into the top corner,” Neil sighs, feeling that fortune deserted his Stoke side while taking aim at the officials.
“I am proud of the players. The least you ask from your team is to put everything into the game and leave everything on the pitch and I thought we did that.”
This was Armstrong’s first goal of the Championship season, and his first in any competition since April. Quite a way to break a 17-game drought for club and country.
Southampton win two in a row
“Ward-Prowse has taken everything for the last 10 years. He’s brilliant at (free-kicks),” Martin beams in conversation with the Daily Echo. “(Armstrong and Carlos Alcaraz) practice a lot. It was nice to see it go in and it’s a brilliant goal. It deserves to win the game.
“Stu has been immense in the last two games and has really stepped up when we needed him to. Hopefully, he sees how much he will enjoy playing for this team.
“He’s another player who has had a tough year and it’s about trying to get him back to the Stuey Armstrong I played with (for Scotland) many moons ago.”
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