Southampton manager Russell Martin hopes to carry a feelgood factor into the Premier League after his struggling side survived a scare to scrape into the Carabao Cup quarter-finals.
The top-flight’s bottom club blew a two-goal lead against Championship side Stoke before James Bree’s 88th-minute winner spared their blushes in a 3-2 success at St Mary’s.
Goals from Potters pair Ashley Phillips and Tom Cannon threatened to take the fourth-round tie to a penalty shoot-out following Taylor Harwood-Bellis’ header and Adam Armstrong’s spot-kick.
Martin, whose team have taken only one point from nine league fixtures this term, had to remind his players to smile at full-time after they narrowly avoided a new low in a miserable season so far.
“We need to celebrate every victory as a group, whether it’s against a Championship team in the cup, whether it’s a Premier League game, you have to enjoy those moments together,” said Martin, with one eye on Saturday’s home game against Everton.
“The guys were a bit annoyed coming in, they didn’t look very happy so I reminded them they’re allowed to smile.
“We won and got through and we’re in the quarter-final of a cup so I think it’s important.
“By the end they are smiling and the music was on. Hopefully we can carry that on on Saturday.”
Southampton were fortunate not to fall behind five minutes from time as only a goal-line clearance from Yukinari Sugawara stopped Stoke substitute Million Manhoef completing the turnaround.
Bree then ensured the hosts avoided embarrassment by rifling into the bottom left corner from around 25 yards.
“It’s been a while – it feels good,” Martin, who watched the match from the stands due to a touchline ban, said of the victory.
“It’s never easy in the cup. We got through, we made it tougher than it should have been for sure but we also showed a bit of character to get through a bit of adversity.
“Thankfully a moment of quality won it for us. Big credit to Stoke but I think we deserved to win.”
Stoke barely threatened before Tottenham loanee Phillips halved the deficit by backheeling home on the stroke of half-time to spark a major momentum shift.
Potters head coach Narcis Pelach, whose side sit 19th in the second tier, made nine alterations to his team and said his game plan almost paid off.
“I’m really pleased with the effort and personality the team put in – I did a lot of changes today, a lot of young players,” he said.
“All I asked was defensive organisation knowing that we are not going to have the ball (very often) but we always can fight, we always can be organised.
“The idea was to survive for one hour and then bring the starters into the game, hoping that we are going to have more chances in counter-attacks.
“It worked well – we were nearly there with this goal Manhoef nearly scored but they saved it on the line.”