Southampton 1 - Ipswich Town 1: Match Report

The Premier League took a backseat this weekend as the oldest knockout competition in the world, The FA Cup, resume action in the third round. With PL teams entering the fray at this round, Southampton was drawn against Championship promotion hopefuls, Ipswich Town.

Manager Ronald Koeman, made several changes from the side that defeated Arsenal on New Year's Day. Sadio Mané, off to Africa Cup of Nations, was replaced by Shane Long, while Toby Alderweireld made way for Morgan Schneiderlin, who returned from suspension.

The Saints created several chances within the opening quarter of an hour, but neither James Ward-Prowse nor Victor Wanyama could open the scoring.

Instead it was the visitors who strike first in the 19th minute through Darren Ambrose. A cross from Tyrone Mings, who was on Southampton's book as a youngster, was headed by Ambrose who rose highest to help Ipswich took the lead.

Southampton nearly leveled the score five minutes later, as back-to-back chances from Graziano Pellè and Dušan Tadić was still denied by Dean Gerken in Ipswich's goal.

More chances followed but it was not until the 33rd minute that The Saints finally equalize, thanks to Schneiderlin.

An initial header from Pellè, caused a mix-up in Ipswich's penalty box and with the visitors unable to clear their line, Schneiderlin was quickest to pounce and flick the ball into the net.

Southampton continues to dominate but could not find the net in the remainder of the first half as it finished 1-1 at halftime.

The second half saw little in terms of action though the host had most of the possession and dominated the proceedings. Long had the ball in the net, but his goal was ruled out after Pellè committed a foul prior to the goal.

Eventually, Ipswich held firm despite Southampton's best attempt to break them down and earned themselves a replay at Portman Road.