Pahars puts the seal on Southampton victory

The Football League Cup, in all its many guises, has never done much for Gillingham, whose attempts last night to equal their humble previous best performance by reaching the fourth round foundered on Southampton's unexpectedly consistent run of away form. James Beattie's penalty set the Premiership side on their way to a fourth successive victory away from their new St Mary's home ­ where they cannot beat anybody ­ before Marian Pahars ended Gillingham's resistance just before the end with his fourth goal in as many games.

The underdogs might have expected to cause more problems to a defence lacking the injured Tahar El Khalej and Francis Benali as well as the now departed Dean Richards. They were not helped by an injury to their striker Iffy Onuora immediately after conceding an iffy penalty decision eight minutes into the game. In Southampton's first attack, Beattie made the most of a nudge from Roland Edge before dusting himself down and firing the resultant penalty low past Vince Bartram.

Almost from the resumption, an apparently legitimate challenge from Kevin Davies felled Onuora, who was carried off in some pain and needed six stitches in a leg wound. The game re-started with Beattie, who was supposed to give possession back, lashing the ball forward from the half-way line and coming within a few feet of scoring a goal that would have caused the mother and father of a row.

The rest of the first half was punctuated by ill-feeling, accentuated by a dive from Pahars, as Southampton lost some of the control they had exerted in the early stages. The Kent side improved, but could only muster one real attempt, Chris Hope's last minute header going over the bar.

The pattern after the interval was similar, except that this time Southampton did not take any of the opportunities offered until Pahars' late header.

Davies, wide on the right, set up two in as many minutes with excellent crosses, but Anders Svensson just failed to reach the first and from the second, floated to the far post, Pahars had a header blocked by Hope.

Pahars' pace allowed him to test Bartram three times before the finish, and although the goalkeeper was equal to the first two attempts, he was powerless when the Latvian met Beattie's cross with a firm header.

Now Southampton's manager Stuart Gray must hope to convert some of the confidence rediscovered on the road into overdue success at St Mary's, where Arsenal are the visitors this weekend. "Winning breeds confidence. But we might be better off with an away draw in the next round," he said.

Gillingham (3-5-2): Bartram; Butters (Ipoua, 71), Pennock, Hope; Patterson, Hesenthaler (Browning, 67), Smith, Saunders; King, Onuora (Shaw, 10). Substitutes not used: Nosworthy, Perpetuini.

Southampton (4-4-2): Jones; Monk, Lundekvam, Dodd, Bridge; Davies, Oakley,

Svensson (Tessem, 84), Marsden; Beattie, Pahars (Ripley, 89). Substitutes not used: Moss (gk), Murray, McDonald.

Referee: A D'Urso (Billericay).