Clinical Southampton Overcomes Doncaster Rovers to Secure Important Win

This article is about Southampton's 3rd round win over Doncaster Rovers in the FA Cup.

(Image Credits to @SouthamptonFC on X)The Report

The Report

EFL Championship side Southampton survived a 2nd half fight back against League 1 side Doncaster Rovers to book their place in the FA Cup 4th round.

Southampton claimed its first win in 7 games across all competitions as Southampton's Cameron Bragg scored his first-ever senior goal for the Championship side in an important FA Cup 3rd round win, while Cameron Archer and Kuryu Matsuki gave the scoreline a comfortable look at half-time.

Southampton had eased off after half-time, and Doncaster Rovers had taken full advantage of that as both Matty Pearson and Jordan Gibson scored to narrow the gap to one goal.

However, the Southampton manager, Tonda Eckert, had brought on Nathan Woods and Leo Scieza as substitutes to give his flagging team an uplift. Debuting goalkeeper Daniel Peretz made his team proud with a crucial save for the Saints in stoppage time as Doncaster's Billy Sharp tried to level the scoring.

Each side needed a win in today's game after they had both gone without a win in 6 of their matches across all competitions

Peretz, who had joined from the German side Bayern Munich earlier this week, was one of the Saints' star players of the game as he had made many crucial saves at the ECO Power Stadium. Bragg scored the opening goal for the Championship side at just 8 minutes in as he had retrieved a missed pass from a Doncaster player and had then passed it to his teammate Matsuki before he had tucked it away into the net, giving the Saints the early lead.

Cameron Archer had doubled the lead for the Saints as he had scored the 2nd goal for them after he had got to his feet after he had been fouled. Then he had, but the ball passed the Rovers keeper Robbie Gotts.

The game that had been crumbling for the Championship side, who are 32 places higher than Doncaster, had turned the game just 3 minutes after the half-time break as Francis Okoronkwo, sensing a comeback, fired narrowly wide.

Eckert's substitutes had swung the game back into their favour as in stoppage time Rovers had forced Peretz into making 2 crucial saves, which had stopped the game from going into extra time and then eventually penalties.

Article written by Elsie Nash © Elsie Nash 2026