Shane Long hammer wraps up Wembley date for Southampton

Liverpool 0 Southampton 1 (Southampton win 2-0 on aggregate): Anfield has a long-held reputation for great cup nights. Yet all the noise the Kop could muster was not enough to carry Liverpool to Wembley. Instead, the glory was all Southampton’s.

At the end of a tense EFL Cup semi-final second leg, Shane Long finished a thrilling counter-attack by hammering a pass from fellow substitute Josh Sims into the net, and the travelling fans celebrated wildly.

That the Saints have reached the final of this competition for the first time since 1979 is a true achievement. Every summer, the club sell on key players, and occasionally lose a manager too. Claude Puel arrived before the start of the season amid a mood of pessimism at St Mary’s. He has responded by taking them to Wembley.

For Liverpool, a season of promise is threatening to fade. Top of the Premier League in November, they have fallen 10 points adrift of leaders Chelsea. One route to a trophy was closed off last night; the FA Cup is now their only realistic hope of silverware this season.

It was a tie of fine margins. Perhaps if Daniel Sturridge had taken either of two excellent second-half chances that had come his way, it might have cleared a path to Wembley. Southampton undoubtedly lived on their nerves at times. But too often a promising Liverpool move faltered because of a poor final ball. Puel’s men rode the pressure, and earned their cup final place. Nathan Redmond’s goal in the first leg of this semi-final proved the difference.

Southampton, even without their injured centre-back Virgil van Dijk, were in no mood to buckle. Jack Stephens, making only his fourth start for the club, was thrown in for the biggest game of his life. As one nervous first-half back pass dribbled beyond his goalkeeper and out for a corner, Claude Puel might have feared the worst. His confidence was boosted no end later in the half when he beat Roberto Firmino to get a vital clearing header to Trent Alexander-Arnold’s cross from the right.

Those early hiccups were survived without the loss of the first-leg lead given to the Saints by Nathan Redmond a fortnight ago. Indeed, they should have been ahead at half-time. Redmond’s pace down the left side exposed Liverpool frequently. The home defence looked deeply uncertain; Joel Matip, recalled at centre-back following the resolution of his eligibility dispute with Fifa, was rocky, cover elsewhere was far from solid.

Liverpool only occasionally looked like breaking through in the opening half. Ryan Bertrand was caught in possession by Adam Lallana, the former Southampton player, and that allowed Philippe Coutinho to set up Sturridge for a shot that rolled straight to Fraser Forster. Then Firmino, scorer of two superbly taken goals against Swansea that ultimately counted for nothing, cut in from the right to test the goalkeeper once more.

Southampton coped with Liverpool’s early attempts to cut through them, then sought that counter punch. They almost found it on the half-hour mark, as Redmond’s burst down the left ended with a cross that was only half-cleared towards the advancing Steven Davis, whose shot would have nestled in the corner of the net but for James Milner’s fine block.

Redmond’s threat down the left surfaced again moments later, as a surging run ended with a square pass towards an unmarked Tadic, who just had to check to get to the ball, and was unable to get the power into his shot to slide it beneath the advancing Loris Karius.

Liverpool did not learn the lesson. For a third time in under 10 minutes, Redmond was allowed to go clear down the flank. This time the move ended with Davis blasting into the Kop, and there was still time before the interval for James Ward-Prowse to roll a 20-yard shot just wide following a short Redmond corner.

Yet all of that solid first-half work was almost undone eight minutes after the interval, when Forster misfielded Emre Can’s long-range specaulator in the wind, and scrambled back just in time to flap the ball away as it bounced towards the goal.

Now the visitors began to live on their nerves. Sturridge hooked over the bar from six yards after Can had guided a Coutinho delivery back across goal, then steered Jordan Henderson’s ball beyond the near post. Coutinho whizzed a long-range shot just wide from distance. The Kop hollered for a penalty at every goalmouth challenge. On that front, Long was perhaps fortunate to survive a loud appeal for handball as he helped defend a corner in the final seven minutes. Then Divock Origi, brought on from the bench, tumbled theatrically over a Stephens challenge. But it was Long who had the final word.

LIVERPOOL:

Karius 6; Alexander-Arnold 5, Lovren 6, Matip 5, Milner 6; Can 5 (Origi 78, 6), Henderson 6, Lallana 6; Firmino 6, Sturridge 5, Coutinho 7 (Wijnaldum 87, 6).

SOUTHAMPTON:

Forster 6; Cedric 6, Stephens 7, Yoshida 7, Bertrand 6; Davis 6, Romeu 6, Ward-Prowse 7 (Hojbjerg 59, 6); Redmond 7 (Sims 80, 6), Rodriguez 6 (Long 46, 6), Tadic 6.

Referee:

Martin Atkinson.