Saints were given a taste of what next season may bring against a direct Cheltenham Town side, but came away with a hard-fought clean sheet…
Cheltenham Town: Brown, Bird (Hutton, 61), Duff (Durrant 53), Townsend, Ridley (Tabor, 78), Low, Pook (Lewis, 72), Gallinagh, Watkins (Richards, 61), Hayles (Alsop, 61), Denton (Hammond, 65). Subs: (not used) Richardson.
Saints: Poke (Forecast, 45), Murty (Reeves, 78), Lancashire, Thomas, Molyneux, James (Gillett, 45), Pulis (McNish, 57), White, Lallana (Rasiak, 45), Doble (Dunford, 57), Paterson. Subs: (not used) Saville.
Referee: Mr. G.D Scott
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A relaxed atmosphere at the Robins' Whaddon Road home provided the setting for Southampton's latest pre-season outing and Stewart Henderson used his second match in temporary charge to give a debut at right-back to trialist Graeme Murty.
With a slender 2-1 defeat to Bournemouth at the weekend leaving some room for improvement, the Scotsman also named Welsh international Lloyd James as his captain and kept his promise to give youth a chance with Ryan Doble and Matt Paterson completing a young first-half front line.
Some things remained constant, however, with the same referee from Saturday's match at Dean Court taking charge and Lallana and Lancashire keeping their starting places.
Things got off to a promising start as Lallana burst into the box under the watchful gaze of England Under-21 boss Stuart Pearce, only to scuff his kick wide of the mark.
An unintentional handball by Lancashire in the 13th minute then gave the hosts a free-kick thirty yards out, but the Robins couldn't take advantage as the in-swinging delivery missed its intended target.
Former Fulham man Barry Hayles combined well with Tom Denton in front of goal five minutes later, but the powerful veteran could only turn the ball behind under pressure from Michael Poke.
That move seemed to inspire the home side somewhat and they were able to string together a number of quick chances as the search for an opening goal continued.
First off, Josh Low won a corner for the hosts after his close range snap shot was blocked by Gloucester-born Wayne Thomas and then Poke was forced to punch clear an Andy Gallinagh free-kick on the half hour.
Half-Time: Cheltenham Town 0-0 Southampton
At the interval Henderson sent on Grzegorz Rasiak and Simon Gillett for Lallana and James, with Tommy Forecast replacing Michael Poke in goal.
Cheltenham boss Martin Allen soon followed suit and the usual pre-season glut of second half substitutions began with the two sides making twelve changes between them.
With fitness and overall match sharpness still the main focus at this stage of the season, Henderson was naturally keen to give some other young players their chance to impress.
Academy scholars Tom Dunford and Callum McNish were both introduced on 57 minutes and a foul on Dunford presented Saints with a goalscoring chance soon after.
The Isle of Wight-born midfielder was brought down to the right of goal and Lee Molyneux's fierce free-kick needed a smart intervention from the home 'keeper to tip the ball over the bar.
Rasiak then went close as he headed the resulting corner just the wrong side of the post on 64 minutes.
Wayne Thomas had to take care when he slid the ball back to his 'keeper on 67 minutes after a David Hutton run set up a chance for substitute Elvis Hammond, but Forecast was eventually able to recover the loose ball.
The Saints stopper was tested again in the closing stages with Jack Durrant's rising shot from the edge of the area the most spectacular.
Overall, the match provided another solid work-out for a mixed Saints side, with Murty looking solid although never unduly troubled.
Saints still need to hone their shooting form and sharpness ahead of the start of the season, but are so far steadily working in the right direction.
Full-Time: Cheltenham Town 0-0 Southampton
