A veritable goal-fest at the Cardiff City Stadium ended with the away side triumphant.
However, it was not pretty in pink for Southampton, as they were pegged back three times by Cardiff as the hosts refused to go down without a fight. Nevertheless, Russell Martin's side are up and running for the season having failed to win in their first two Premier League fixtures.
Mateus Fernandes, Sam Amo-Ameyaw, Cameron Archer and James Bree were among the scorers, all of whom bagged their first goals for Southampton.
Russell Martin has now beaten Cardiff in five of the last six meetings, a run that stretches back to his days as manager of the Bluebirds' fiercest rivals Swansea.
-
Story of the match
Russell Martin made 11 changes to the side that lost to Nottingham Forest. Handing debuts to Nathan Wood, Ronnie Edwards and Lesley Ugochukwu, as well as first starts for Charlie Taylor, Mateus Fernandes and Cameron Archer.
Alongside the change in personnel, Southampton changed formation for the encounter with Cardiff. Opting for the 4-3-3 arrangement that, up until the playoff campaign, had been the go-to tactical system for the Saints last season.
James Bree and Charlie Taylor were utilised as classic full backs, with Sam Amo-Ameyaw and Samuel Edozie as the wide forwards in the front three either side of central striker Archer.
In the midfield Ugochukwu acted as the anchor, the nominal 'number six', who allowed Tyler Dibling and Fernandes to be more attacking.
Much like Martin, Cardiff Manager Erol Bulut also made 11 changes, none of the starting XI against Swansea started this match.
Goalkeeper Jak Alnwick retained his place from Cardiff's first round win over Bristol Rovers. Defenders Ronan Kpakio and Joel Bagan, as well as midfielders Rubin Colwill and Raheem Conte also kept their starting role from the competition's earlier round.
Young striker Michael Reindorf made his first start of the season.
Southampton started the brighter of the two sides with Dibling taking aim after just two minutes, although the effort was comfortably saved by Alnwick.
It did not take long for the Premier League visitors to open the scoring. In the 10th minute, Dibling found Fernandes on the edge of the penalty area, who shifted the ball onto his right foot, hammering home his first goal for the club.
Cardiff responded just over 10 minutes later. Reindorf had seemingly ran into a cul-de-sac however, he managed to find teammate Colwill, who unleashed an absolute piledriver from 30-yards out. His strike crashing in off the underside of the crossbar, drawing the Bluebirds level.
A further 10 minutes later, Southampton were back ahead again. A wonderful free-flowing move brimming with flair, that started with Taylor and ended with a delightful curling effort from Amo-Ameyaw.
Thirty minutes played, three goals, the visitors leading 1-2.
As the halftime whistle was blown, both sides had cause for optimism. Southampton had the lead and had the lion's share of possession. Meanwhile, Cardiff only trailed by a single goal despite fielding a much changed side.
Australian midfielder Alex Robertson came on for the hosts to add some endeavour to their midfield - a change that proved to be inspired as Cardiff equalised mere minutes into the start of the second half.
Conte burst away from Taylor, racing towards the by-line, his driven cross seemed harmless enough until Southampton goalkeeper Joe Lumley punched the ball into teammate Ronnie Edwards' mid-rift, the ricochet trickling over the goal-line to level the score.
A calamitous own-goal befitting a 1990's style 'Goals and Gaffs' compilation.
Minutes later though, the Saints were ahead once more. Amo-Ameyaw cut inside to find Fernandes on the edge of the penalty area, who deftly played in Archer, giving the striker the opportunity to spin round the opposing defender to fire home.
The 22-year-old duly obliged, his instinctive left-footed strike on the swivel flew past the hapless Alnwick, right in-front of the travelling fans.
However this re-established lead would last a total of two minutes, as Cardiff drew level for the third time in the match.
Colwill floated a cross towards the back post towards the on-rushing Conte, who headed the ball back towards the six-yard line for substitute Robertson to slam home with an emphatic volley.
Less than a hour played, 3-3. Chaos with a capital C.
Shortly after the hour mark Russell Martin made a double change. Fernandes and Ugochukwu off with, returning prodigal son, Adam Lallana on along with Armel Bella-Kotchap.
This was a change designed to allow Southampton to have more control in the game. The game had become needlessly wild, as evidenced by the frequency of goals in the early part of the second half.
However, neither Lallana nor Bella-Kotchap had featured at all in pre-season, meaning the two had to build instant connections with those around them on the pitch. This settling in period nearly proved costly for the Saints.
Nathan Wood delayed in possession for too long on the halfway line and Reindorf stole the ball. Wood tried his best to drag the striker down but Colwill picked up the loose ball, bearing down on goal.
The Cardiff attacker had Conte to his right but chose to go alone and forced a smart save from Lumley, who made amends for his earlier error.
After that scare for Southampton, there was very little goal-mouth action of any kind heading into the final minutes of the game. The Lallana/Bella-Kotchap substitution had the desired affect with the 36-year-old Lallana dictating play in a manner that one might refer to as 'rolling back the years.'
On the face of it, this match was heading to penalties however this narrative was to be changed by the unlikeliest of sources.
Southampton had a corner in stoppage time, Amo-Ameyaw played it short to Dibling, who played it back to Bree and the defender attempted to whip in one final cross.
The cross was headed away but the clearance only went as far as Bree, the ball bounced up kindly and the former Luton player did what anyone would do in the 90th minute of a cup tie. He absolutely smashed it, his volley flying past Alnwick.
In a game full of goals that could win 'Goal of the Round', this one takes the gold. A truly outrageous strike worthy of winning any game.
Southampton had taken the lead for the fourth time in the match and this time they intended on maintaining it.
Ten years ago the Southampton faithful would have been used to surging runs from Lallana to drag their team up the field, so it was rather fitting that Lallana was on the pitch to see the determined Dibling charge up the field in the waning seconds of the match to coolly slip through Archer to score his second.
A thrilling encounter had finally come to an end, Southampton getting their first win of the 2024/25 season. Earning a Third Round tie at Everton as a result.
-
Player of the match - Tyler Dibling
After impressing off the bench in Southampton's first two Premier League games, the academy graduate started his first match since February - a FA Cup Fourth Round replay against Watford.
Dibling registered two assists, which neatly bookended the Saints' scoring in the match.
Firstly, he delivered a lovely weighted pass to Mateus Fernandes, as the Portuguese midfielder opened the scoring.
Then, at the very end of the match, Dibling received the ball inside his own half and demonstrated his ability as a ball carrying midfielder. Seizing the game that Southampton had failed full grasp throughout the tie, sliding through Archer to finally put the game beyond any doubt.
It is not just contributions at the start and at the end that define Dibling's performance. The 18-year-old managed six passes into the final third, completed 42/48 passes (88%) in the match and created four chances to boot.
