Ben Fisher was our man on the south coast today. His report has landed; here it is for your entertainment and edification. Thanks for reading this MBM!
Jonathan Woodgate’s turn. “The lads never gave up ... they are a good side ... we move on now ... nine big games and we’re looking to get into the play-offs ... the boys are down, but you have to move on quick ... the league is big for us now, we have to get into the promotion places ... they gave it everything they could, and that’s all you can ask for.”
Ralph Hasenhuttl talks to BT. “It was a very lively performance ... the mindset was important ... I could feel the whole week in our sessions that the guys were focused ... it’s important to keep the tempo high ... we tried to play quick ... the first goal being disallowed didn’t affect us ... we are very, very pleased ... I’m hoping this game gives [Nathan Redmond] a lift to show what quality he has ... we said in January we want to focus on the FA Cup, maybe I should have said we want to focus on both things! ... we have to do our job in the Premier League again.”
Man-of-the-match Nathan Redmond speaks to BT Sport. “We had aspirations of getting to Wembley at the start of the season ... it’s a chance to put our league form behind us, which has been a bit poor of late ... we tried to eliminate their style of play with how we pressed ... it was always going to be tough, they have played some good football this season ... I’ve not really ran as people as much and been trying to figure out why ... you go through dips in confidence ... I just had one thing in my head, to get the team up the pitch, to get a yard ... we wanted a cup run this season ... we can work on a few things during the international break ... hopefully we can end the season on a high note.”
That was a marvellous performance by Southampton, every one of their players bringing something to the party. Nathan Redmond scored two peaches and set up another with a storming run and clever pass. The clear man of the match, although James Ward-Prowse ran the usual marathon, while the equally energetic Stuart Armstrong made several eye-catching and lung-bursting runs. Great stuff; they thoroughly deserve their place in the last four. Bournemouth by contrast didn’t really turn up, an FA Cup semi-final remaining elusive for the Cherries. Ah well, they can concentrate on their promotion push.
FULL TIME: Bournemouth 0-3 Southampton
Saints have taken the FA Cup seriously from the get-go, and here’s their reward: a place in the semi-finals.
90 min +3: Surridge is booked for a totally unnecessary charge at Salisu. Frustration all over his coupon.
90 min +2: See 90 min +1, but replace the second word with the word “second”.
90 min +1: The first of three added minutes passes by without incident.
90 min: Saints make another double change, replacing Walker-Peters and Adams with Ramsay and N’Lundulu.
88 min: Bournemouth finally show in attack, too little, too late. Anthony crosses from the right. Surridge heads towards the bottom right. Forster gets down to save on the line.
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87 min: On BT Sport, Glenn Hoddle names Nathan Redmond as man of the match. No complaints there, he’s been sensational, scoring two and setting up the other ... though Stuart Armstrong and James Ward-Prowse should also get commendations, both bringing a potent mix of industry and skill.
85 min: Djenepo is replaced by Tella.
84 min: Wilshere is booked for a late lunge on Diallo.
83 min: Saints are seeing this game out in a very calm and considered style. They’ve been extremely impressive from front to back.
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81 min: Adams has a look down the inside right but can’t quite force his way into the box. He’s been lively this afternoon without any personal reward. Scotland could be good value this summer when he links up with Armstrong.
80 min: From the corner, Diallo has a rake from 25 yards. It’s miles wide left. Saints could have had a hatful today. Imagine if they lost 9-0 and won 9-0 in the same season!
79 min: Armstrong has been excellent this afternoon. He barges down the right after spinning into space. He reaches the edge of the area and tries to tee up Adams inside, but has to settle for a corner.
78 min: Bournemouth meanwhile replace Billing with Kilkenny.
77 min: Both of Southampton’s centre-backs are on a booking, so Ralph Hasenhuttl plays it safe, replacing Bednarek and Vestergaard with Stephens and Salisu.
75 min: Armstrong embarks on a Maradonaesque run down the inside-right channel, from his own half to the edge of the Bournemouth box. He can’t quite work space for a shot, so pokes the ball left to Redmond, who curls a shot millimetres wide of the right-hand post. That would have been another picture-book goal.
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74 min: Vestergaard is booked for hauling Solanke back by the shoulder.
73 min: Armstrong peals a shot towards the bottom right. Begovic does extremely well to tip it around the post. Ward-Prowse’s corner is cleared easily enough.
72 min: Armstrong has been his usual livewire self all afternoon. He dribbles hard at the Bournemouth back line. Saints don’t appear to be in the mood to settle for three.
70 min: It’s all Saints. Never, ever have Bournemouth felt so low.
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69 min: Saints have shipped a three-goal lead in the FA Cup before, Tranmere coming back to stun Glenn Hoddle’s side in 2001. Paul Rideout was the hat-trick hero for Rovers that day. Bournemouth don’t appear to have the magic to conjure a consolation, never mind a miracle.
67 min: Mepham comes on for Rico.
66 min: Surridge leaves one on Bednarek, who felt that. The game stops as he rolls around, waiting for the pain of impact to subside.
65 min: Good news: Djenepo is back up, his neck having been given the once-over.
63 min: A clash of heads between Djenepo and Wilshere. The Saints man has come off worse, and on come the medics.
62 min: Armstrong chips down the left for Adams, who can’t quite work space for a shot. Corner instead. Southampton are playing with a swagger.
60 min: Armstrong has a dig from a tight angle on the left. Wide. Saints are all over this. Give or take a couple of inches, they’d be five goals up. They’ve been magnificent today. Bournemouth not so much.
GOAL! Bournemouth 0-3 Southampton (Redmond 59)
This is no more than Saints deserve. Ward-Prowse snaffles possession down the left and crosses low. Armstrong, coming in late, crashes a shot off the bottom of the left-hand post. The ball pings back to Redmond, who threads so calmly and cleverly into the bottom right, the only unguarded portion of the goal, the Bournemouth box otherwise a scene of great disorder. Lovely finish!
57 min: Bournemouth are still in it, then. With a comeback in mind, Surridge and Anthony come on for Pearson and Riquelme.
NO GOAL! Bournemouth 0-2 Southampton
Ruler Guy has done for the Saints again. Armstrong an inch or two offside amid a melee.
55 min: But this is going to be looked at by VAR. A possible handball by Adams, and Armstrong possibly offside.
GOAL! Bournemouth 0-3 Southampton (Adams 53)
Bednarek blooters down the middle. Adams and Armstrong combine to bring it down. The ball’s laid off to Adams, just to the right of centre. He lashes low and hard into the bottom left. What a finish!
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53 min: The corner is a waste of time. The bigger picture: Bournemouth are finally carrying a threat. But hold on ...
52 min: Wilshere slips a pass down the left for Solanke, who crosses low. Saints slip into panic mode, their defence all over the place. They can only half clear. Stacey crosses from the right, forcing Walker-Peters into conceding a corner.
50 min: Bournemouth look more lively, presumably having been told what’s what at half-time by Jonathan Woodgate. They had been very passive in the first half.
48 min: Bournemouth need something to happen quickly, and it nearly does. A small pocket of space for Wilshere, just to the left of the D. He drops a shoulder then whips viciously towards the top left. It’s inches away from curling in, but rattles the side netting instead. Not sure Begovic was getting to that.
46 min: Adams strides down the right and battles with Cook, who clumsily barges him over. But the Saints man doesn’t get the decision, responding with a marvellous bellow of EFF OFF, delivered with great feeling, just the right mix of anger and incredulity. Brian Blessed would be proud.
Bournemouth get the second half underway. No changes.
Half-time entertainment.
HALF TIME: Bournemouth 0-2 Southampton
The brilliance of Nathan Redmond has put Saints in control of this quarter-final. Throw in a goal disallowed for offside by the pernickety VAR ruler-wielders, and this has very much been a one-sided affair.
GOAL! Bournemouth 0-2 Southampton (Redmond 45+2)
Redmond adds to his sensational assist with an equally magical goal of his own. He picks up a loose ball and dribbles from left to right, in the style of George Best. He drops a shoulder, enters the box, and whips a delicious shot back across Begovic and into the top left. What a run!
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45 min: Vestergaard attempts to shepherd the ball out for a goal kick. Solanke robs him, but can’t work out what to do with the ball. Shoot or pass? There aren’t too many options, and eventually Vestergaard makes up for his mistake by whipping the ball back and clearing.
43 min: Walker-Peters creams a long pass down the right for Adams to chase. Carter-Vickers does just enough to get the ball back to Begovic, but it was close.
41 min: Bournemouth try to respond, drawing a few triangles at speed, but it’s all in the middle of the park and they go nowhere.
39 min: That really was a fine goal. What a run and pass by Redmond, and the finish across Begovic, rolled into the far corner, was special. Saints deserve their lead.
GOAL! Bournemouth 0-1 Southampton (Djenepo 37)
... but those efforts are all in vain. Redmond dribbles down the middle, then drifts a little to the left, drawing three players before rolling an exquisite defence-splitter down the inside-left channel for Djenepo. He opens his body and sidefoots a precise, gentle curler into the bottom right. What a lovely goal!
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36 min: Solanke spins elegantly down the right and whizzes into the box. He attempts a cute cutback for Riquelme, racing just inside. The ball clanks through to Forster. Bournemouth have definitely upped their efforts.
35 min: Solanke glides in from the left only to be dragged back by Walker-Peters, who is slightly fortunate not to go into the book. Everyone lines up on the edge of the Saints box in anticipation of the free kick. Rico curls it in but it’s no good, really.
33 min: Bournemouth are slowly working their way into the match at last. Riquelme and Solanke exchange crisp passes down the middle, and the former is suddenly in a little pocket of space. He tries to slide a cute shot into the bottom right, but hasn’t caught Forster out, and it’s an easy claim for the keeper.
31 min: The resulting free kick is launched diagonally into the Saints box on the right. Adams heads straight at Cook, who fires a low cross. Riquelme attempts to whip a no-backlift effort into the top right. Not far away at all. That would have been some finish.
30 min: A yellow card at last, as Bednarek clips Danjuma from behind, having been spun by the Bournemouth winger.
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28 min: Saints continue to control the game, though Begovic hasn’t had too much work to do.
26 min: Free kick to Saints out on the left. They load the box. Dead-ball expert Ward-Prowse tries to surprise the keeper by going straight for goal, whipping towards the bottom left. Begovic handles the direct shot well.
24 min: Wilshere leaves one on Vestergaard, the studs showing. For the second time, Martin Atkinson shows no interest in doling out any punishment for the sort of challenge that usually leads to a yellow.
23 min: A drop of the shoulder by Danjuma, who works a bit of space down the left and shoots from a tight angle. Forster turns it around the post, and nothing comes of the corner. Better from Bournemouth, who have been uncharacteristically impotent so far.
21 min: Corner for Saints. The ball breaks to Armstrong, who bobbles a weak shot wide right. “It was brave of Glenn Hoddle to say Walker-Peters ‘timed his run to perfection’ even as the VAR check was drawing a line showing he hadn’t.” Our man Philip Cornwall fills the gap where a TV column used to be.
20 min: Solanke finds a bit of space to burst into, then lays off to Billing on the overlap down the right. But Vestergaard reads the danger, striding across to intercept and stroll away.
19 min: Bournemouth are finding it hard to retain possession. Saints keep coming at them. Redmond is very close to sashaying his way through the eye of a needle down the right, but the ball breaks away from him as he reaches the edge of the box.
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17 min: Saints have established some Premier League dominance. While they ping it around, here’s Mac Millings, coming at you all the way from South Carolina: “Did Jonathan Woodgate really say ‘We just want to win the game ... if that puts us through to the semi-final then fantastic’? Is that no longer how it works? Have the FA added a twist to try and buff up the sheen of the sadly-devalued World’s Oldest Distraction from the League? Do you at least have a *better* chance of progressing to the semis if you win the quarter-final, or is it entirely random? Maybe a quiz night between the two teams, where Trevor Brooking asks questions like ‘How many headed goals did I score in my career?’ and ‘How many roads are named after *you*?’” Millings, are you up early or just going to bed?
15 min: A sensational curving run by the ever-busy Armstrong down the right. He uses all the width of the pitch to beat Rico, then pulls back for Bertrand, coming in late. Bertrand opens his body and attempts to steer into the bottom left. Always wide, but it’s another easy-on-the-eye Saints move.
14 min: A shame for Southampton, that, because it was a simple but deadly attack. Carter-Vickers had to intervene, because Adams was going to walk the ball into the net otherwise.
12 min: Probably worth pointing out that VAR is in operation today despite Bournemouth being a Championship club. That’s because they had the whole kit and caboodle installed for their Premier League campaign last season.
NO GOAL! Bournemouth 0-0 Southampton
Yep, Walker-Peters didn’t trim his armpit hair last night, and now look. He’s offside, and Carter-Vickers is spared the agony.
GOAL! Bournemouth 0-1 Southampton (Carter-Vickers og 10)
Bednarek sprays a long pass down the right for Walker-Peters, who is in acres. He rolls into the centre for Adams, but Carter-Vickers sticks out a leg and diverts it into the net. Oh dear. However, VAR is going to take a look.
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8 min: Danjuma catches Ward-Prowse on the shin with his studs. The referee decides there’s no intent, and nothing in it. You’ve seen players booked for much less than that.
7 min: ... it’s an easy claim for Forster, who nearly releases Adams on the counter down the right with a long kick. Not quite.
6 min: But then so do the hosts. Billing strides confidently down the middle, launching a move that leads to a corner on the right. The load the box, and ...
5 min: Adams and Redmond probe down the Saints left. The ball’s shifted inside, where shot-happy Diallo has another dig. This one’s blocked, but the visitors seem in the mood.
3 min: Saints come back at Bournemouth, Armstrong working well down the right, Diallo taking a whack from distance. His shot is deflected out for a corner on the right. Ward-Prowse and Redmond try an intricate short-corner routine, but only manage to run the ball out of play.
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2 min: A fast start by Bournemouth, with Rico and Danjuma combining well down the left. Rico whips low and hard towards the near post. Solanke can’t quite get there; Forster claims with safe hands.
Saints get the ball rolling ...but only after some players take the knee, others elect to take a stand. Either way, there’s no room for racism. Kick it out.
The teams are out! Bournemouth are in their rossoneri gear, while Saints wear third-choice white with red sash, a nod to their days as the football wing of the Young Men’s Association of St Mary’s Church. We’ll be off in a minute!
Bournemouth boss Jonathan Woodgate speaks to BT Sport: “We just want to win the game ... if that puts us through to the semi-final then fantastic ... the group are right up for it ... we are high on confidence but we don’t want to be complacent ... I like pressure.”
... as does his Saints counterpart Ralph Hasenhuttl: “It is a big opportunity today for us ... we need to have a good game, it will be a typical cup fight ... we always picked the strongest side for every round, it’s why we’re in the last eight.”
The Cherries make two changes to the XI that swept Swansea aside 3-0 on Tuesday. Ben Pearson and Rodrigo Riquelme replace Jefferson Lerma and Junior Stanislas.
Saints also make two changes in the wake of the 2-1 home loss to Brighton. Nathan Redmond and Moussa Djenepo take the places of Takumi Minamino and Nathan Tella.
Team news
Bournemouth: Begovic, Stacey, Carter-Vickers, Steve Cook, Rico, Wilshere, Pearson, Riquelme, Billing, Danjuma, Solanke.
Subs: Saydee, Mepham, Surridge, Travers, Kilkenny, Anthony, Zemura, Moriah-Welsh.
Southampton: Forster, Walker-Peters, Bednarek, Vestergaard, Bertrand, Armstrong, Ward-Prowse, Diallo, Djenepo, Adams, Redmond.
Subs: McCarthy, Stephens, Salisu, Tella, Ramsay, N’Lundulu, Ferry, Jankewitz, Watts.
Referee: Martin Atkinson (W Yorkshire).
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Preamble
Ah, the quarter-finals of the cup. The point at which the dreaming really begins. The shiny prize is within reach now. It’s a realistic prospect, just three matches away. First things first, though. Bournemouth are looking to reach the semis for the first time in their history. In their road, south-coast rivals Southampton, winners in 1976, beaten finalists in 1900, 1902 and 2003.
Both sides will fancy their chances. The clubs were fairly evenly matched during Bournemouth’s five-year residency in the Premier League; four Saints wins, two for the Cherries, four draws. Last season both won on each other’s turf. Bournemouth are back in the Championship now, but in better form: three wins and a draw in the last five, while Saints have lost nine of their last 12. So it’s swings and roundabouts.
Kick off is at 12.15pm GMT. There’ll be extra time and penalties if needs be. It’s on!
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