THERE were ‘we march on’ banners all around St Mary’s and that is exactly what the Saints did in the EFL Cup after a night when David Moyes was sent to the stands and his Sunderland players were left with the familiar feeling of frustration.

The Hampshire coast is a long way to travel back nursing a defeat, but an eighth reversal of the season was exactly what the 1,500 away fans had to endure – even if they were never in any danger of losing by the eight they did two years ago this month.

Sunderland, whose Premier League status already appears to be hanging by a thread after a winless start to the campaign, are now also out of the League Cup after failing to reach the quarter-finals.

The Northern Echo:

Jermain Defoe takes a shot under pressure. He came on late on for Sunderland but couldn't help prevent them from slipping to defeat. Photo: PA

This fourth round tie was there for the taking, if only the Black Cats had more about them in the final third and showed greater quality to take advantage of an opposition boasting numerous youngsters.

Far too often there were misplaced passes, while Victor Anichebe – who had calls for a penalty waved away with two minutes remaining that led to Moyes’ being sent off for his protests – looked lively on his full debut even if he never tested the keeper.

But Southampton’s £16m man Sofiane Boufal, on his first start for the club, displayed the sort of match-winning magic Sunderland badly lack when Jermain Defoe is not on song - or even on the pitch, like here until the closing stages.

Boufal’s stunning winner, a beautiful curler into the top corner, 24 minutes from time proved the only difference between the two sides when Moyes’ growing frustrations – having also complained about West Ham United’s late winner at the weekend – were clear to see once more.

Sunderland’s Premier League problems have continued to increase but the EFL Cup had provided a couple of victories this season and there must have been hope when the teams were announced beforehand.

Saints boss Claude Puel made plenty of changes, including youngsters such as Harrison Reed, Lloyd Isgrove and Jack Stephens, while former Lille forward Boufal was handed his long awaited first start after moving from Ligue 1.

Moyes would have liked to have made more changes than he did, although injuries prevented that from happening. Nevertheless Defoe, John O’Shea, Javier Manquillo and Steven Pienaar dropped to the bench from Saturday’s defeat at West Ham United.

In the initial 25 minutes Anichebe, leading the line for the first time since signing as a free agent last month, was left isolated up front as Southampton’s fluid forwards looked to start positively.

Sunderland’s defence, which has not kept a clean sheet so far in the league, looked solid, with Papy Djilibodji bright alongside Lamine Kone; the latter making a fantastic block to deny Pierre-Emile Hojberg’s strike from finding Jordan Pickford’s bottom right corner.

As the minutes ticked by in the first half Sunderland’s influence grew, even if they failed to test goalkeeper Alex McCarthy. The only save he had to make before the break was when he got down to low to hold Wahbi Khazri’s effort, which would not have counted because of offside anyway.

The problem Sunderland encountered was that far too often, when things looked quite promising going forward, they wasted the final ball. Patrick van Aanholt was guilty of missing his man a few times, while Duncan Watmore and Khazri were not blameless either.

Arguably the worst culprit of misplaced passes in that opening period was Didier Ndong. The £16m man gifted possession to a red and white shirt on a number of occasions, but he is relatively new so perhaps he mistook them for Sunderland players on the south coast.

Southampton’s task was made a little harder by the enforced withdrawal of Jay Rodriguez after a clash of heads with Billy Jones, and the lesser known teenage talent Olufela Olomola was the man charged with keeping Kone and Djilibodji busy.

Olomola came closest to scoring for the home side right on the whistle; blasting high from a tight angle when a late free-kick was whipped in and only half dealt with.

Sunderland, like at West Ham days earlier, had shown signs of promise, it was how they could build on it in the second half that mattered again.

They passed the ball around quite crisply, but needed to get Anichebe involved more because the tie was in their own hands if they could find a way of testing McCarthy.

All they could muster was a simple catch from the striker’s cross and a poor van Aanholt free-kick which curled high over the bar.

Watmore blasted a half volley over too, but there was always a feeling of nervousness, a fear that Southampton could do what others have done so often … score late.

While the opener may not have been as late as some, Southampton found the breakthrough with 25 minutes remaining.

Boufal still had a lot to do when he was picked out on the left with a crossfield pass, but the Paris-born Moroccan’s first touch was instant, his second created space clear of Billy Jones and his third was a rasping curler inside Pickford’s top left corner.

McNair almost instantly levelled with a header at the back post and Defoe – who was quick to test McCarthy into a low save at his near post - was introduced as a second striker alongside Anichebe for the final 18 minutes.

It looked as if Anichebe could have earned a late penalty when Maya Yoshida appeared to trip him in the area.

Moyes certainly thought so, remonstrating out of his technical area, leading referee Chris Kavanagh to send him to the stands.

That incident was just the latest blow for a manager struggling to turn Sunderland around after his first few months in charge, and it was followed by another when the final whistle was blown and his team were knocked out.

MATCH STATS: 

Goals:

1-0: Boufal (66, controlled a pass with a fine first touch, turned and curled a beauty inside the top corner)

Bookings: Khazri (45, foul); Jones (64, foul)

Referee:  Chris Kavanagh (Ashton-under-Lyme) – handed out a couple of cautions but then sent off David Moyes when the Sunderland boss had a point. 5

Attendance: 21, 640

Entertainment: **

         Saints Sund

Shots on 1     2

Shots off 5     8

Corners   5     3

Fouls      11    8

Offsides   2     2

SOUTHAMPTON (4-1-4-1): McCarthy 7; Stephens 6, Yoshida 6, Fonte 6, McQueen 5; Reed 6 (Clasie 81); Isgrove 5 (Redmond 72), BOUFAL 8, Ward-Prowse 6, Hojberg 7; Rodriguez 4 (Olomola 26, 5). Subs (not used): Lewis (gk), Austin, Martina, Van Dijk.  

SUNDERLAND (4-2-3-1):

5 Pickford: Never had to make a save and could do nothing about the winner;

6 Jones: Looked to impress on his return to the starting line-up and had done enough until he gave Boufal the freedom to score

7 Kone: Strong defensively and always looked to keep possession

6 Djilibodji: Improved performance at the back and might have set up a goal on another night with a fine diagonal pass to van Aanholt

6 van Aanholt: Gave possession away a few times early on but got stronger without being at his best;

4 Ndong: Tried a couple of wayward passes in the first half and had improved before losing his touch again in the closing stages

6 Rodwell: Had a brighter game in the middle and got involved more than he has been;

5 Khazri: Could have done more in an attacking sense even if he put the work in

5 Watmore: A more central role for the young forward but he couldn’t pose enough problems on this occasion

4 McNair: Asked to operate on the left wing bizarrely and struggled to get beyond his man even if he almost scored a header;

6 Anichebe: Led the line well without ever really testing the keeper and could have earned a penalty

Subs:

Defoe (for Khazri 72)

Pienaar (for Watmore 87)

Gooch (for McNair 87)

Subs: Mika (gk), O’Shea, Manquillo, Love.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Sofiane Boufal – showed why Saints spent £16m on him with a stunning winner.