Southampton end 22-year South Coast derby league drought with 1-0 win over Portsmouth

Southampton 1-0 Portsmouth

Ten-man Southampton secured their first South Coast derby win in the league in over two decades with a 1-0 home victory over Portsmouth at St Mary’s in the Sky Bet Championship.

Saints beat their fierce local rivals 2-1 in the Premier League on 13 November 2004, with Kevin Phillips scoring the winner. The victory on Sunday 11 October 2026 finally ended the wait, thanks to James Bree’s neat first-half finish, despite playing the entire second half with 10 men following Cameron Bragg’s red card.

How the goal unfolded

Portsmouth looked the more industrious team at the start of only the 35th league meeting in history between these sides, but it was Southampton who broke the deadlock.

Finn Azaz’s magnificent ball found Bree, who had easily slipped from the grasp of Jayden Meghoma. He took one sharp touch to control it and another to guide it beyond Nico Schmid, before celebrating in the direction of the Pompey fans.

Red card changes the game

Few chances of note followed before the break, but the hosts suffered a huge blow moments before the whistle. Boyhood Saints fan Bragg picked up a second booking for a needless pull on Ebou Adams and walked.

Portsmouth manager John Mousinho brought on Adrian Segecic at the break to try and find the equaliser, then made a triple change just after the hour, but the visitors’ attack increasingly lacked urgency. The numbers illustrated the struggle: 10 second-half shots, zero on target, 0.51 xG.

Reaction

Southampton head coach Tonda Eckert said: "It means everything. We had to dig deep, probably a lot deeper than we thought before the game and credit to the boys because they deserved that."

On the red card, Eckert added: "You know how much it means to him [Bragg]. At the end, I said to him he gave us a game we would not have had any other way, so we'll probably look back at the end of the season and say this is the game that gave us a big push and he was a part of that. In a different way than he wanted, but it happens. It will be a learning for him. I think it did change the game. Not on the scoreline, but the game changes then and you need to find different qualities. We knew then we had to dig deep."

The win caps a positive week for Southampton following news Eckert was given only a six-week suspended ban by the FA for the ‘Spygate’ saga.