Che Adams scored a brace to help Southampton produce one of the narrow football scores of the weekend in the Carabao Cup. After the Imps looked like they would pull off an upset after Gavin Bazunu’s early own goal, top scorer Adams scored twice just before halftime to save the Saints from embarrassment. At a thinly filled St Mary’s, the unimpressive hosts toiled for the majority of a forgettable fourth-round match, giving Jones much to think about as he formulates a Premier League survival strategy.
Adams scored the game-winning goal, his ninth of the year, 16 minutes from time to avoid a penalty shootout, which Saints had needed to avoid defeating third-tier Sheffield Wednesday in the previous round. Replays indicated that Adams’ equalizer in the 25th minute may have been offside, but Lincoln, who are currently 14th in Sky Bet League One and defeated Championship Bristol City in round three, performed admirably.
Samuel Edozie, a Saints substitute, missed a fantastic opportunity to seal the victory in stoppage time when he inexplicably missed an open goal, while Adams, the game’s hero, missed an amazing opportunity to go for a hat-trick. Two days after replacing the fired Ralph Hasenhuttl, Jones managed Saints in his first game, a 3-1 Premier League defeat at Liverpool on November 12 that put the team in last place in the top tier. Due to the World Cup, the former Luton manager had to wait an additional 38 days for his home debut and, despite selecting a solid team, had a terrible start.
After a rocky start, his disjointed team needed some time to recover and looked to have benefited from a large dose of good luck when they scored the equalizer. Adams, who had just been denied by City goalkeeper Carl Rushworth’s excellent save, headed in a cross from Mohamed Elyounoussi, but replays indicated that the goal should have been overturned for offside. To the chagrin of Imps manager Mark Kennedy and the strong traveling support, the goal was upheld because VAR was not utilized in the competition until the semifinal round.
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