Leicester 3-4 Southampton

The Great Escape Artists Strike Again

If you’d told any Saints fan at half-time that we’d be dancing in the aisles of the King Power Stadium come full-time, they’d have probably checked your temperature and suggested a lie-down. Three goals down after 29 minutes, looking about as defensively solid as a chocolate teapot, and facing the very real prospect of becoming Leicester’s latest victims – yet somehow, someway, Southampton conjured up one of the most remarkable comebacks in recent memory.

The opening half-hour was nothing short of a horror show. Divine Mukasa opened the floodgates on nine minutes, before Patson Daka doubled the lead just four minutes later. By the time Fatawu Issahaku made it three before the half-hour mark, many Saints fans were already mentally composing their angry tweets. The only yellow card of the half went to our Caspar Jander, presumably for having the audacity to actually attempt a tackle. At this point, Leicester were purring like their stadium’s namesake, and we looked about as threatening as a wet paper bag.

But football, as we all know, is a funny old game – and Saints have never been ones to do things the easy way. The second half saw a completely transformed team emerge from the tunnel. Ross Stewart finally broke our duck on 61 minutes, and suddenly the impossible began to feel merely improbable. The stats tell the story: we peppered their goal with 16 shots to their measly eight, forcing three saves while their keeper had a night off.

The final ten minutes were pure theatre. Jack Stephens pulled another back on 82 minutes, before Ryan Manning leveled things up just four minutes later. By now, the traveling Saints contingent had found their voices again, and the Leicester faithful were shuffling nervously in their seats. But the pièce de résistance came deep into stoppage time when young Shea Charles completed the most unlikely of turnarounds, sending 25,827 people into various states of disbelief, ecstasy, or despair.

The numbers make for beautiful reading: 55.3% possession, seven shots on target compared to their three, and a goalkeeper who had absolutely nothing to do all evening. Sometimes the beautiful game rewards the brave, the persistent, and the slightly unhinged – and last night, we were gloriously all three.

From three down to four up – if this doesn’t sum up the rollercoaster ride of supporting Southampton, nothing will. Championship football at its bonkers best, and long may it continue.