Southampton 1 Swansea 0: Charlie Austin strikes again for third goal in four days

CHARLIE AUSTIN came off the bench to fire his third goal in four days and Southampton to a 1-0 win over Swansea.

Both teams enjoyed chances before Saints striker Shane Long found himself appealing for a penalty moments before the break - but instead he was shown a yellow card for diving.

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He was even more infuriated seconds later when Nathan Redmond broke through and blasted over the bar instead of squaring before the winger spurned another chance prior to the break.

Southampton flew out the traps after the restart and should have been out of sight, but it was only thanks to supersub Austin they claimed the three points.

Seconds after crashing a header off the bar, he controlled a Redmond cross with his chest before lashing home to secure the win.

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Facts, stats, goals & lols

• Charlie Austin has now scored three times in four days after eight months without a goal since his Saints debut in January.
• Ref Mike Jones got it horribly wrong when he booked Shane Long for diving after the striker had been felled in the box by Federico Fernandez.
• Claude Puel's communication problems appear to have spread to his players, who were constantly getting their wires crossed.
  

  

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• Virgil Van Dijk made such a meal of his collision with Fernando Llorente that we expected him to be covered in claret. Bizarrely, he didn’t have a scratch.
• We're not suggesting that World Cup winner Llorente is resting on his laurels at Swansea but it would be nice if he at least broke sweat.
• The corporate fans at St.Mary’s must think a football match is only one hour long because they miss at least 30 minutes of action either side of half-time.
  

  

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• Oriol Romeu has now been at Southampton for more than a year yet has still to play his first forwards pass.
• Swansea supporters might not travel in numbers but those who do follow their team make one hell of a racket.
  

  

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• Spare a thought for those dogged Japanese journalists who turn up for every Saints game to report on perpetual substitute Maya Yoshida.
• Saints fan Mark Stanton was really put on the spot when he received a half-time marriage proposal via the giant scoreboard. “You don’t know what you’re doing,” was the inevitable response from his fellow supporters.

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Dream team ratings

Southampton: Forster 7, Soares 7, Fonte 7, Van Dijk 7, Bertrand 6; Clasie 6 (Hojberg, 54, 6), Romeu 7; Redmond 7, Davis 7, Tadic 7 (Martina, 82, 6); Long 6 (Austin, 54, 7).

Subs not used: McCarthy,  Yoshida, Reed, Isgrove.

Goal: Austin 64

Booked: Long,

Swansea: Fabianksi 7; Naughton 6, Amat 7, Fernandez 6, Kingsley 6 (Rangel, 46, 6); Fer 6, Ki 6 (Montero, 66), Cork 6 (Baston, 82, 5), Sigurdsson 6; Barrow 6; Llorente 6.

Subs not used: Nordfeldt, Van Der Hoorn, Britton, Routledge.

Booked: Naughton

STAR MAN: Charlie Austin 7

Click here to read more about the player ratings from the clash at St Mary's.

What they said

Southampton captain Jose Fonte: “The clean sheet – we needed one.

“We are always going to create chances as we play good football and we just needed to get back to the clean sheets.”

Southampton goalscorer Charlie Austin: “Strikers are credited on goals and stats don’t lie.

“For me, I like to be in the box and score, but to be honest I should have had two or three today.”

Swansea boss Francesco Guidolin: “Southampton deserved to win. For us it was not a good performance.

“We have to change our attitude - we have to play well and be more aggressive, and this is reason why Southampton won.”