Smallbone scores as Southampton set up Wembley showdown with Leeds

WILL SMALLBONE SCORED as Southampton booked a place in the Championship play-off final with a thumping 3-1 victory over West Brom on a raucous evening at St Mary’s.

West Brom were second best on the south coast but claimed an added-time consolation through Cedric Kipre before jubilant Saints fans celebrated moving a step closer to an immediate top-flight return with a pitch invasion. Brooks threatened a 16th-minute breakthrough when he brushed the outside of the right post following Armstrong’s cutback before Saints goalkeeper Alex McCarthy turned an overhit Tom Fellows cross on to the bar and over at the other end.

Smallbone intercepted Grady Diangana’s sloppy pass just inside Saints’ half and, having advanced forward and received the ball back from Brooks, took a couple of touches before rifling home a rising drive via the right post.The unmarked Alex Mowatt was picked out by Fellows’ pull back from the right but, with the goal gaping, his scuffed effort was unconventionally blocked behind by the head of Taylor Harwood-Bellis.

Southampton West Brom

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