REPORT: Southampton blanked in defeat to Leeds

Southampton couldn’t extended their run of back-to-back Premier League wins after being blanked 2-0 by Leeds on the fans’ return to St Mary’s on Saturday.

Patrick Bamford and Tyler Roberts both struck late in the second-half as Leeds swept both games against Saints, who didn’t score in either fixture.

In front of 8,000 fans, Southampton failed to take advantage of a boisterous atmosphere to close out their best home record — albeit still low — in half a decade.

“I think we had a very good first half,” said Saints boss Ralph Hasenhüttl to the club’s official website. “We used a lot of energy to create chances but you must take advantage by going in the lead, which would help you a little bit more. In the second half, they had a better start and the game was neutralised until they scored the first goal. Then it seemed that they had another gear that we didn’t have.”

James Ward-Prowse teased the crossbar with a vicious 30-yard free kick early in the second-half before Leeds grew into the game as Raphinha drew a finger tip save from Alex McCarthy.

Bamford broke the deadlock on 73 minutes when he held his run to stay onside before latching onto Rodrigo’s pass and drove the ball through the legs of McCarthy for his 16th league goal of the season.

The forward turned provider, setting up Roberts to fire a right-footed shot past the goalkeepr to make it 2-0 deep into added time.

“It’s really frustrating not to win today, we wanted to go for three in a row but hopefully next week we can put that right,” said Southampton defender Kyle Walker-Peters. “When you’re on top, you’ve got to take your chances, just like they did. Second-half they get that one chance and they take it. We need to start doing that.”

Saints sit 14th in the table on 43 points with a game remaining and the potential to finish as high as 12th should results go their way.

Southampton (4-4-2): McCarthy; Salisu, Vestergaard, Stephens, Walker-Peters; Djenepo; Armstrong, Ward-Prowse, Walcott (Diallo 78); Tella (Redmond 70), Adams (Ings 45)

Unused subs: Forster (GK), Minamino, Bednarek, N’Lundulu, Obafemi, Ferry

Bookings: None

Goals: None

Leeds United (3-3-3-1): Casilla; Cooper, Llorente (Berardi 45), Ayling; Alioski, Philips, Dallas; Harrison, Rodrigo (Roberts 78), Raphinha; Bamford

Unused subs: Meslier (GK), Hernandez, Jenkins, Poveda-Ocampo, Shackleton, Davis

Bookings: Philips (34), Dallas (56), Struijk (66)

Goals: Bamford (73), Roberts (90+5)