Never thought I would be doing a second thread but happy to do so. Saints travel across the Solent in their search for silverware, taking on the mighty Newport, in the second round of the Hampshire Cup. Should be a chance for Ralph to give a run out to some of the fringe players in what, on paper, should be a fairly comfortable game, but having said that we’re not playing on paper and this is the Saints. Correction. Just been reliably informed that we are actually playing the Welsh Newport, in the EFL Cup and not the IOW Newport, in the Hampshire Cup. Oops, easy mistake to make. Still this comes as a bit of a relief as historically we do rather well against the Welsh Newport, with a record of Played 31, Won 17, Drawn 10, Lost 4. Hoping for a good away win, without extra time, so I can get the next thread up before bedding down, as I need to be up early for my Premier Inn brekkie on Thursday, before jetting off to Spain. UTS.
One of those defeats was 5-1 as well, back in 1960. We also played them 3 times in the League Cup that season, with 2-2 home and away scores, presumably leading to a replay that we won 5-3.
I would expect a team like: Forster Valery Bednarek Stephens KWP Diallo Romeu/youngster Redmond Elyounoussi Tella Long Should be too strong for Newport.
I don’t think Ralph will make that many changes, he hadn’t tended to in previous seasons. Forster KWP Stephens Salisu Peraud Tella JWP Romeu Redmond Adams Armstrong
Ralph said he needs a bit more time to learn the pressing techniques, but hopefully he gets some game time Wednesday.
First game in years so buzzing for this one! Expecting Ralph to rotate much more in the cups now that we have a better squad depth. Forster KWP Bednarek Stephens Peraud Diallo. JWP Tella. Redmond Long. Obafemi
Haha, not exactly. But you'd think Long and Obafemi are about Championship level so they should be an improvement on League 2 opposition!
