RALPH HASENHUTTL’S red-hot Southampton side dampened Newport’s homecoming parade as they rained down a record number of goals to breeze into the third round.
It was 3-0 at the break, they added three more in a ten-minute purple patch early in the second half, added a magnificent seventh from Nathan Redmond and finished with a hat-trick goal from Mohamed Elyounoussi.
If it was hard for the home fans to take after 537 days of not being able to watch their team at home.
It was even worse for their inspirational County boss Michael Flynn, who was at home listening on the radio completing his Covid isolation period as his team were being cut to shreds.
Newport’s previous worst in this competition was a 5-0 hammering by Swansea City in 1978, but Hasenhuttl’s men – who have been on the wrong end of 9-0 Premier League drubbings against Leicester and Manchester United in the last two seasons – dismantled that.
At the centre of it all was their skipper James Ward-Prowse, one of only two survivors from the weekend draw with United, pulling the strings and opening up the home defence.
Three first-half goals dampened the Amber Army’s enthusiasm.
A Redmond drive forced Nick Townsend into a great save in the eighth minute, but Chelsea loanee Armando Broja reacted the quickest as the ball came back off the underside of the bar and scored the opener.
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The second was a high-speed break-out from defence. Two passes later Nathan Tella was on his own running into the box and shooting past Townsend to double the lead in the 24th minute.
It was only a matter of time before more goals flowed and Kyle Walker-Peters notched his first for the Saints with a thunderbolt from the left edge of the area a minute before half-time.
It only took three minutes of the second half for the Saints to add to their tally. Broja struck the post and the rebound was put in by Mohamed Elyounoussi.
He fired in a second seven minutes later and then Broja made it three in 10 minutes with another ruthless strike.
Redmond added the seventh before Elyounoussi grabbed his hat-trick.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
