Stoke were up against a tough test in the form of Koeman's Southampton side, as both teams looked eager to get into the quarter-finals of the Capital One Cup. Unsurprising, as the chances of silverware for both teams is limited, they both fielded strong teams.

Stoke beat Sunderland away from home in the run-up to this fixture, whilst Southampton narrowly edged their 3rd Round tie with Arsenal - both teams wanted to win and you could tell by the way they approached the game.

And, it was The Saints who started the cup tie off the better. Graziano Pellè broke the deadlock after just 6 minutes with a sweet long-range strike from 25 yards out, which had Begovic diving to his left but was unable to stop his curling effort from swerving into the bottom corner of the net. His 9th goal of the season, for both club and country, the in-form striker opened the scoring in some style as the hosts found themselves down already.

Stoke tried to split their opposition's defence to get back into the game, with their build-up play testing the Southampton defence at times. Diouf and Arnautovic got forward at will, but were unable to test Forster in the early goings of the match.

Southampton striker Shane Long opened his goalscoring account with a clinical finish from close range to make it 2-0 to the visitors, after some neat build-up play allowed the £12million pound summer signing to slot past Begovic into the net, before Stoke forward Jonathan Walters was denied halving the deficit as his goal was adjudged to be offside by the linesman. Despite his frustrations, the call was the correct decision, as reviewed by the replays.

At half-time, the score was 2-0 to The Saints. And, it would be fair to say that it was a deserved lead going into the break. Having said that, Stoke pulled one right back in the 48th minute, thanks to a low drive from midfielder Steven N'Zonzi who smashed low from 25 yards out beyond Forster to give the home supporters something to shout about. They did their best to encourage their team to equalise, as the hosts upped the intensity and tempo in the second-half for sure. A clear sign of improvement, with both Bojan and Walters going close.

The game began to stretch out more, with both teams having chances to score. Long saw an effort trickle past goal after he was set with a one-on-one with Begovic, but the Bosnian 'keeper did well to come out quickly and pressure the striker into taking an early shot on-goal. Southampton almost made it 3-1, but for some last-ditch defending from Stoke to deny the attempted effort from Tadic inside the area.

Bojan should have done better, having robbed defender Gardos of the ball in his own area, but the Spaniard's cross into the box was not powerful enough as centre-back Jose Fonte did well to sweep up the danger. It was a disappointing delivery from the former Barcelona and Ajax winger, who could have easily grabbed an assist if he had crossed the ball better, summing up his game in one move. Ineffective.

However, The Potters continued with their pressure and probed the Southampton defence after making a double substitution. Adam and Crouch replaced Cameron and Bojan respectively, and the hosts had a succession of corners in which they came agonizingly close to equalising. And then... striker Mame Biram Diouf found himself in space to flick on a header from close range to make the scores level once again!

Suddenly, a minute of madness from Peter Crouch meant that he was shown two yellow cards in quick succession for silly, clumsy challenges which did not need to be made. Therefore, the referee sent the English striker off, just 12 minutes after coming on as a substitute to send Stoke down to ten men and hoping for extra-time.

AND almost instantenously after Crouch's dismissal, Pellè made it 3-2 to the visitors with a good reaction and neat finish past Begovic after a set-piece was poorly defended as the ball fell into the Italian's path.

With stoppage time of 6 minutes to be added on, Stoke kept up the pressure on their quest to get back into the game. However, it was not enough as Southampton stayed strong to clinch a quarter-final place.

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About the author
Mosope Ominiyi
Writer and editor - European football analyst, youth enthusiast. Email: [email protected]