Southampton 0-1 Burnley: Marcus Edwards scores on debut to seal Clarets' FA Cup progress
Marcus Edwards scored on his debut as Burnley overcame Premier League Southampton to seal their place in the fifth round of the FA Cup.
The on-loan winger came off the bench to score the decisive goal as Scott Parker’s men extended their unbeaten run in league and cup to 20 games with a 1-0 win.
It was a fairly even game between two evenly-matched sides - Southampton struggling at the bottom of the Premier League and the Clarets looking to displace them.
But it was Parker’s side who came out on top, keeping yet another clean sheet while also posing plenty of problems at the other end of the pitch.
Despite making eight changes from the midweek win against Oxford, Parker was still able to name a strong starting XI.
Vaclav Hladky replaced James Trafford in goal, while Oliver Sonne, Joe Worrall and Lucas Pires came into a back five alongside CJ Egan-Riley and Bashir Humphreys.
Jonjo Shelvey made his first start in midfield alongside Hannibal, while Manuel Benson and Jeremy Sarmiento played off Ashley Barnes in attack.
Nathan Redmond and Enock Agyei featured on the bench on their return from injury alongside January signings Jaydon Banel and Marcus Edwards.
Josh Brownhill and Luca Koleosho both missed out for the third game running with knocks, while Jordan Beyer, Aaron Ramsey and Mike Tresor all remain sidelined.
As for the Saints, they also went pretty strong, making just four changes from their weekend 2-1 win against Ipswich Town.
Benson, making his first appearance of the season following a five-month absence, could and perhaps should have given Burnley an early lead after just two minutes.
The winger was played through on goal after Lucas Pires had scythed through the Saints backline. Chopping onto his right foot, Benson’s eventual shot was cleared off the line by Welington.
Burnley’s bright start continued as Jonjo Shelvey tried his luck from 50 yards out after spotting keeper Alex McCarthy off his line. Despite hitting the target, McCarthy was able to backtrack and make the claim.
The Saints threatened for the first time when Kamaldeen Sulemana broke through but CJ Egan-Riley, captain for the day, denied him with an important block.
With all the changes, Burnley looked a little disjointed out of possession, lacking their usual solidity and structure.
The Clarets were dealt a let-off midway through the first-half when the Saints looked to capitalise on an errant backpass from Joe Worrall, which Vaclav Hladky could only clear straight to Ryan Manning, whose shot was well saved. The ball eventually fell to Tyler Dibling but his volley was cleared away from the goalmouth by the retreating Worrall.
On the half-hour mark, Burnley could easily have edged their noses in front when Ashley Barnes set Jeremy Sarmiento free with a clever lobbed through-ball. Sarmiento twisted and turned his man but could only shoot straight at McCarthy.
An entertaining and open first-half ended with Saints going close again as the tricky Tyler Dibling dragged a low shot into the side-netting as he looked to beat Hladky at his near post.
Dibling was involved in the thick of it once again as the hosts came close at the start of the second-half, the midfielder teeing up Ryan Manning whose low shot was well saved by the legs of Hladky.
The home fans screamed for a penalty shortly afterwards as Kamaldeen threw himself to the ground, but with Oliver Sonne making absolutely no contact, the Saints man was rightly booked for diving.
Parker freshened things up on the hour mark with a triple change, introducing Marcus Edwards for his debut as well as Maxime Esteve and youngster Joe Bauress.
Burnley were almost gifted the lead in the 66th minute when McCarthy’s pass out from the back landed straight at the feet of Hannibal, but his pass to Sarmiento went astray and the chance went begging.
It was the Clarets who looked the more likely to win it before the 90 was up, with Parker’s men throwing more and more men forwards.
Barnes almost found the breakthrough when he stabbed the ball towards goal from close range, but his effort was straight at McCarthy.
The Saints retained a threat though, Welington booting just over with a looping volley which, in truth, didn’t appear to have Hladky too threatened.
The keeper was scampering across his goal a couple of minutes later though when Kamaldeen curled a fine effort just wide of the far post.
The last thing Burnley needed was for this game to go into extra-time, but thankfully - 13 minutes from time - they finally found the breakthrough.
The goal owed a great deal to Hannibal, who broke forward from midfield once again to race into the Saints box before unselfishly pulling the ball back for debutant Edwards, who had the simple task of tapping home into the back of the empty net to send the away end into raptures.
Burnley, as we’ve seen so often this season, looked so comfortable once they had the lead and they were able to see out the remaining minutes with relative ease to book their place in the fifth round of the FA Cup.
TEAMS
Saints: McCarthy, Walker-Peters, Bree, Bednarek, Manning, Welington, Ugochukwu (Smallbone), Aribo, Fernandes (Archer), Kamaldeen (Gronbaek), Dibling (Onuachu)
Subs not used: Ramsdale, Sugawara, Wood, Bella-Kotchap, Lallana
Burnley: Hladky, Sonne, Worrall, Humphreys, Egan-Riley (Esteve), Shelvey (Bauress), Hannibal, Benson (Edwards), Pires, Sarmiento (Redmond), Barnes
Subs not used: Green, Cullen, Agyei, Banel, Flemming
Referee: Will Finnie
Attendance: 15,253