Joy for Eckert as 10-man Southampton edge out Portsmouth in feisty derby

Relief will surely be the overriding emotion for Tonda Eckert when he reflects on his last few days as Southampton’s head coach. After avoiding an immediate ban after Wednesday’s ruling on his part in the Spygate scandal that rocked the Championship last season, he oversaw victory in his first south coast derby in the St Mary’s dugout as his 10 men held firm in the face of Portsmouth’s second-half onslaught following Cam Bragg’s red card.

There was widespread surprise at the leniency of Eckert’s punishment after Southampton admitted to spying on three of their opponents last season – a six-week ban that is suspended until the end of the 2027-28 campaign and a £28,000 fine – meaning he was able to take his place on the touchline on Sunday. An FA independent disciplinary commission noted Eckert’s “genuine contrition” at what had happened. At Southampton, there is a sense that their expulsion from the playoffs in May and four-point deduction was punishment enough, and Eckert is keen to move on from a period of uncertainty that he admitted this week had changed his life.

The Portsmouth head coach, John Mousinho, had also welcomed a resolution to the case before Sunday so that the football could be the focus. James Bree was the author of the winning goal, turning the ball home after 20 minutes, but the pattern of a fiercely contested game shifted with Bragg’s first-half dismissal for two yellow cards. Southampton held on to move into the top half – they would be third without the points deduction – with Eckert now able to approach a promotion push with a clear conscience.

Mousinho’s big selection call came in goal, with Nicolas Schmid getting the nod ahead of Daniel Bielica for the first time in five games. The Austrian rose to the occasion within the first two minutes, spreading himself to block Cyle Larin’s bobbling shot after the Canada striker had taken down Ryan Manning’s diagonal long ball. The first flare-up came moments later when a smirking Manning bumped chests with Ebou Adams after a Portsmouth free-kick came to nothing.

The Portsmouth full-back Jayden Meghoma, who made his professional debut for Southampton as a 17-year-old, was a magnet for Saints ire. He was a threat down the left, firing wide at the near post in a promising opening, but he lost Bree for Southampton’s opener. Finn Azaz was given too much space in midfield and clipped a ball in behind a static Meghoma for Bree, forward from right-back, to guide a left-footed finish into the far corner.

The Portsmouth midfielder Adams was a central figure, just as he had been in scoring his team’s first goal in this fixture in 14 years last January. He twice picked Bragg’s pocket in the Southampton half and drew yellow cards on both occasions. The 20-year-old Bragg, a lifelong Saints fan from Winchester, was consoled by his teammates after receiving his second yellow and marching orders for an instinctive tug of Adams’s shirt after being caught on the ball. Colby Bishop and Ryan Kavuma-McQueen went close to equalising before Eckert could try to plug the gaps at half-time.

After Leo Scienza spurned a chance on the counterattack after the restart, Southampton were perhaps fortunate not to be reduced to nine players when Azaz, frustrated at not being given a free-kick under Adams’s challenge, then lunged in on him on the touchline. The busy referee, Adam Herczeg, flashed his yellow card and Eckert allowed himself a smile with the fourth official. More relief.

When Bree was treated for a battle scar around his eye, Eckert was able to hold council with his remaining midfielders James Ward-Prowse and Flynn Downes after a flurry of Portsmouth chances. The substitute Adrian Segecic was drifting into spaces and had fizzed a couple of low efforts wide in the minutes before, while the right-back Zak Swanson saw his cut-back cleared by Jack Stephens from under the Southampton crossbar.

While Eckert gradually reduced his side’s attacking presence, Mousinho emptied his bench in an attempt to find a way through a resilient Southampton defence marshalled by Stephens and Keven Schlotterbeck, who laid their bodies on the line more than once in front of Daniel Peretz in goal. Their clean sheet was a priceless end to a week where their manager was given a clean slate.