Southampton’s Under-21 team ended a run of three defeats with a 2-0 victory over their Tottenham Hotspur counterparts at Stevenage on Monday evening.

Saints more than matched second place Spurs before taking the lead at a crucial time in the game, backing up a fine performance with a resolute second half display.

The goals came in either half of the game with Matt Targett giving the visitors a lead right on half time with an excellent free-kick, before Josh Sims celebrated his new contract thanks to a well-taken strike midway through the second 45.

Saints’ Technical Director, Martin Hunter, returned to the dugout to lead the 21s side, and handed goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga his fifth start of the season at this level. He was one of three changes made to the team that started last week’s defeat at Norwich City.

Also coming into the side were Targett and Sam McQueen, with ever-present captain Dominic Gape moving to right back.

Gazzaniga was called upon once in the first half to deny Shaquile Coulthirst, but was otherwise largely untroubled by a Spurs side that contained England winger Andros Townsend.

Targett’s opener came after Saints had edged the first 45 minutes in terms of chances, with Ryan Seager notably striking the crossbar with an improvised overhead kick inside the area just before the half-hour.

The one-goal advantage gave Saints a platform to build from in the second 45 and, after Gazzaniga had thwarted an on-target header from Harry Winks, Saints took advantage to pounce on 71 minutes when a perfectly-weighted pass from Jake Hesketh released Sims into the area, and the winger hit a well-taken strike into the near corner to double the lead.

Skipper Gape produced a fine block to deny Anthony Georgiou in the closing stages as Saints battled hard to protect their clean sheet.

The win moves Saints to within three points of Spurs in the Barclays Under-21 Premier League table.

Southampton Under-21s (4-2-3-1): Paulo Gazzaniga; Dominic Gape (c), Ollie Cook, Will Wood, Matt Targett; Harrison Reed, Armani Little; Sam McQueen (Tyreke Johnson 73), Jake Hesketh (Callum Slattery 80), Josh Sims; Ryan Seager. Unused substitutes: Harry Lewis (GK), Alfie Jones, Josh Debayo.

Goals: Targett (44), Sims (71)





Bookings: Gape (78), Reed (84)

Tottenham Hotspur Under-21s: Tom Glover; Kyle Walker-Peters, Luke Amos, Filip Lesniak (Will Miller 73), Cameron Carter-Vickers, Milos Veljkovic (c), Andros Townsend (Emmanuel Sonupe 63), Harry Winks (Japhet Tanganga 63), Shaquile Coulthirst, Anton Walkes, Anthony Georgiou. Unused substitute: Harry Voss (GK).