Armstrong double sinks West Brom and sends Southampton to Wembley
Adam Armstrong scores Southampton’s second goal against West Brom in their playoff semi-final second leg success. Photograph: Paul Childs/Action Images/Reuters
From the rubble to the Ritz? The rousing pre-match welcome Southampton’s supporters gave their players left a wreckage of flares, smoke bombs, empties and cans but as fans exited a supercharged St Mary’s they left with a trip to Wembley to plan. Russell Martin’s side were given a heroes’ welcome and now they are one game from returning to the Premier League at the first time of asking, a date with Leeds to prepare for a week on Sunday. Will Smallbone settled any lingering nerves early in the second half before Adam Armstrong struck twice late on, firing in with a precise strike before sealing victory from the penalty spot.
Martin says the best day of his footballing life was captaining Norwich to the Premier League via the Championship playoff final in 2015 and Southampton made no attempt to play down the significance of the occasion.
If anything, the hosts were intent on embracing it and, judging by the scenes outside the Itchen Stand two hours before kick-off so, too, were their supporters.
After taking the decision to arrive together on the team coach, Southampton’s players and staff were greeted by a haze of red smoke, a stirring fan-led guard of honour of sorts. The Ellisons bus driver who navigated the carnage made himself an early contender for man of the match. Martin warned beforehand that whichever team handled the occasion best would ultimately prevail.
Once Darnell Furlong popped a white balloon that landed on the pitch, the West Brom captain Jed Wallace kicked off and a lively encounter – far more so than the slow-cooked contest at the Hawthorns last Sunday – was under way. At half-time the teams were still locked at 0-0 but Southampton started and finished the opening 46 minutes in the ascendency. There was a tangible buzz among the home support and Rishi Sunak was among those in attendance for the crunch game, the prime minister and Southampton fan in the directors’ box along from the club’s majority owner, Dragan Solak, and club chairman Henrik Kraft.
West Brom’s only real sight of goal came from Tom Fellows’s hanging cross, which proved awkward for the Southampton goalkeeper, Alex McCarthy, who pushed the ball over via the crossbar but they threatened at set pieces. Wallace replaced Brandon Thomas-Asante in Carlos Corberan’s only change from the first leg.
The busy David Brooks, one of two Saints players promoted from the bench to the starting lineup, came closest to opening the scoring in the first half, clinking the outside of a post with a shot after meeting Adam Armstrong’s cutback. Armstrong, always a game runner, latched on to Taylor Harwood-Bellis’s pass into the channel and pulled the ball back for the Wales winger, whose momentum took him flying into a stanchion.
Brooks, who minutes earlier went down easily in the box under pressure from West Brom left-back Conor Townsend, combed his fingers through his hair in frustration. Brooks later sent a devilish cross bouncing into the six-yard box but the West Brom goalkeeper, Alex Palmer, read it before the lurking Armstrong could connect.
It did not take too much longer for Southampton to get their reward, Smallbone sending a shot in off a post four minutes into the second half to spark ecstasy in the stands. Smallbone started and finished the move, cutting out a loose pass from Grady Diangana and then driving forwards. Smallbone handed the baton to Brooks, who ushered a pass into to his path with the outside of his left foot. Smallbone took a couple of touches and then aim, his right-foot shot kissing the woodwork en route past Palmer. Diangana grimaced on halfway.
Southampton should have had a chance to double their lead from 12 yards approaching the hour, Martin incensed after the referee, Tim Robinson, did not award a penalty despite Cedric Kipré wiping out Brooks in the box before taking the ball. Kipre and his panicked teammates pointed to the ball and West Brom got away with one. Southampton were on top but conceded too many cheap free-kicks. Harwood-Bellis prevented an Alex Mowatt shot at the end of a brisk West Brom counterattack troubling Southampton and Furlong wellied over via McCarthy’s fingertips after the hosts failed to clear a corner.
Southampton, though, always appeared in control and Armstrong killed off a subdued West Brom with an arrowed strike on 78 minutes. When Mikey Johnston felled the substitute Ryan Manning in the box with five minutes of normal time to run, Armstrong sealed the Saints’ spot at Wembley before Kipré headed a late consolation.