According To SkySport News, Russell Martin admits battling Stoke City caused upset in Southampton dressing room

Stoke City trailed 2-0 at St Mary’s before mounting a remarkable comeback in the Carabao Cup to equalise and threaten progression, but were finally defeated by a late goal.

Southampton’s manager, Russell Martin, expressed frustration at his struggling Premier League team’s narrow entry into the Carabao Cup quarter-finals due to a stubborn Stoke City.

The Saints, who are bottom of the Premier League, lost a two-goal lead against the Potters, who are also in the Championship, but James Bree scored an 88th-minute winner to save their blushes in a 3-2 victory at St Mary’s.

Stoke loanees Ashley Phillips and Tom Cannon nearly forced a penalty shoot-out after Taylor Harwood-Bellis’ header and Adam Armstrong’s spot-kick.

Stoke replacement Million Manhoef had a chance to give the visitors a crucial lead with minutes left in the game, but was denied by Yukinari Sugawara’s goal-line clearance.

Martin, whose club has only one point from nine league games this season and was forced to watch the game from the stands due to a one-match suspension, had to tell his players to grin at full-time after narrowly avoiding a new low in a terrible season so far.

“We must enjoy every victory as a team, whether it is against a Championship team in the cup or a Premier League game. “You have to enjoy those moments together,” Martin stated.

“The boys were furious and frustrated when they came in [after the game]. They didn’t seem joyful, so I reminded them that they were permitted to grin. We won and made it through, and we’re in the quarterfinals of a cup, which was the goal at the start of the night, so I believe that’s significant.

“By the end, they were smiling, and the music was playing. Hopefully, we can keep that up.”

As for the visitors, who are 19th in the second tier and made nine changes for the game, Martin said: “Big credit to Stoke, but I think we deserved to win.” We just made the situation more difficult than it should have been.

“It never gets easier in the cup. We got through; it was certainly more difficult than it should have been, but we also shown some character in dealing with adversity. Fortunately, a moment of excellence won it for us.

“I left the stand with a 2-0 lead, extremely pleased with my first-half performance, which was overpowering. I believe the decision-making about the last pass, cross, or shoot might have been improved, because we were dominant in the first half and could have had more to show for it.

“Conceding the [first] goal changed the context of the game, and then we conceded on the counter-attack, giving them another major chance later in the game with the counter-attack.

“Credit to them, they were fighting, they were really well organised, well coached, like we knew they would be.”

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