Southampton vs Aston Villa match report: Graziano Pelle’s exquisite League Cup strike shows gulf in class as Villains' misery deepens

For all the promising signs of heart and effort in this Aston Villa display, their first game since Tim Sherwood was dismissed, it ended with a simple message: football matches are decided by individual quality – and Villa do not have enough.

Southampton won this game, and reached the quarter-finals of the Capital One Cup, thanks to two exquisite second-half goals.

They had done very little before the moment, early in the second half, when Maya Yoshida picked up the ball and dispatched it into the bottom corner from long distance.

Even better was to come when substitute Dusan Tadic combined with Graziano Pelle to make a goal worthy of settling any match.

The problem for Aston Villa is that they do not have players like Tadic, Pelle and the rest, players who can decide games at the top level.

This is not a good squad, and Sherwood’s job was made very difficult by the poor quality of the players who had been purchased for him. Scott Sinclair managed to pull one back from the penalty spot in added time, but by then it was too late.

This was a low-stakes, high-reward game for Aston Villa and, for caretaker manager Kevin MacDonald, a welcome chance to conjure up some enthusiasm and confidence – both of which had entirely dissipated at the club recently.

The visitors were cheered on by over 3,000 travelling fans, whose support was both vocal and self-deprecating, singing “we are going down” with unusual glee.

The Villa players fed off the relaxed feel of new management and a new competition. MacDonald played 4-4-2 with Rudy Gestede partnering Gabriel Agbonlahor up front, and Villa were quick to use Gestede’s aerial presence.

He had the leap on Southampton centre-backs Virgil van Dijk and Steven Caulker whenever the ball went into the box, threatening from two Ashley Westwood corners and an Alan Hutton cross.

It was from Leandro Bacuna, though, that Maarten Stekelenburg had to make his hardest save of the first half. The Dutch midfielder produced a moment of skill out of keeping with the rest of the half, shuffling away from two tackles, exchanging passes with Westwood, and stinging Stekelenburg’s palms at the near post.

Southampton did not show up for the first half, producing almost nothing of note. With Pelle isolated and Gaston Ramirez quiet on his first Saints start in 18 months, it took an unusual source to spark them into life.

Yoshida had only scored three goals in his three years since arriving in England but here he recognised that the game was in dire need of some impetus.

So he picked the ball up at right-back, drove forward, exchanged passes with James Ward-Prowse and belted a left-footed shot into the bottom corner from 25 yards out. It was a goal entirely out of keeping with the game, and all the better for it.

Villa could easily have folded at this point but they did not. MacDonald introduced Jack Grealish and the team played with a belief that has been beyond them recently. Westwood had one shot saved, before Agbonlahor forced Stekelenburg to tip one over the bar.

Sensing that the game was still up for grabs, Southampton manager Ronald Koeman threw on Tadic, who briskly made sure that it was not.

With 15 minutes remaining and the lead just 1-0, Tadic found space out on the left wing. He drifted in a delightful cross, which looped over the head of Jose Angel Crespo and on to the boot of Pelle, who volleyed it into the bottom corner.

There was late futile hope for Aston Villa, when Van Dijk cut down Jordan Ayew in the penalty area in stoppage time. Sinclair scored the penalty, which did not help his team in the end, but did allow the Villa fans to leave St Mary’s singing “we scored a goal, we scored a goal”.

Man of the match Yoshida.

Match rating 6/10.

Referee K Stroud (Hampshire).

Attendance 31,314.