Saints may have fallen victims to a hold-up in Sherwood Forest but there was no way they were going to be robbed of a place in the third round of the Worthington League Cup.

A bad accident closed the road and caused a major traffic jam to seriously delay the team coach which did not arrive at the ground until 25 minutes before the scheduled kick-off.

That instantly evoked memories of another rainy night in the same competition when they arrived late at Reading in the same competition five years ago.

They started badly then and never recovered to crash out of the competition in a major upset. But this could hardly have been more different.

Glenn Hoddle's trademark attention to detail ensured the players were not allowed to be rattled by the disruption to their routine and they were up for it from the start.

They stayed on the pitch after the warm-up and focused on the need to avoid conceding an early goal as they defended a 2-0 lead from the first leg.

And it was clear from the opening moments that their new-found resolve was never going to let the third division side back into this second round tie.

With consummate professionalism they brushed the ball around the park to draw the sting from the game and ensure the underdogs never got any momentum.

They quickly established their authority with Matthew Oakley once again taking a grip on the game as the orchestrator in midfield as they played good possession football.

They were faster, fitter and stronger than the home side who managed just one weak long range shot on target in the first half and in truth the outcome was inevitable even before Uwe Rosler finally scored his first goal for the club on 31 minutes.

Jason Dodd played a neat one-two with Trond Soltvedt and sprinted down the right to cross to the near post where Rosler darted in first. He took a touch to create space and then rammed home.

Any tiny lingering doubts were completely removed a minute before the break when former Pompey midfielder Mark Blake passed the ball straight to Chris Marsden.

He moved it forward swiftly to Rosler who played in Soltvedt to the left of goal. He tried to lift the shot over the keeper but saw it come back off the bar.

Rosler's follow-up header was nodded off the line by Stuart Hicks but Soltvedt made certain at the second attempt lashing home from 12 yards.

It is a measure of Southampton's rising standards that they came away a shade disappointed at failing to keep a clean sheet - even though there was nothing they could have done to prevent Town's consolation on 54 minutes.

Darrell Clarke's 25-yard shot took a wicked deflection off Dodd in a crowded penalty area and flew into the bottom left corner past Paul Jones who was already diving the other way. Even then he got a foot to it.

But any thoughts the Stags may have had of mounting a fight-back were quickly quashed as Hoddle's men instantly raised their game once more.

Rosler had a blast well saved by the keeper after being put through by Oakley and then a minute later Matthew Le Tissier fired across the face of goal and wide with Rosler screaming for a pass in front of goal.

The two-goal advantage was restored on 64 minutes when Soltvedt swivelled sharply to clip a precise 16 yard shot into the bottom left corner.

And Rosler was harshly denied a second six minutes later when he was flagged for offside as he slid home the rebound after Bobby Mimms parried a 20-yard shot by Marian Pahars who had completely turned Les Robinson inside out with his trickery.

Wayne Bridge cleared off the line from Blake's header eight minutes from time although Jones may have had it covered anyway.

And the keeper made a fine save from another Blake header after a free-kick had been delayed by a male streaker.

But that late flurry from the home side was largely an irrelevance as the tie had long since been decided and Saints were by then playing out time with the same calm authority they had displayed from the start.

They could easily have won by five or six such was their command as they moved the ball swiftly and slickly to fully emphasise the gap in class against a spirited but limited Mansfield side.

To their credit the underdogs continued to try to play football rather than trying to rattle the Premiership outfit with an aerial assault and that gave Southampton the time and space to make their superior skill count.

Hoddle took the chance to try out a three-man central defence and blooded Imants Bleidelis and Ryan Ashford at wing-backs.

Ashford was just starting to settle and pick up the pace of the game when he was injured but the Latvian got his first 90 minutes under Hoddle showing a good turn of pace as he impressed in patches.

The three centre-backs gave nothing away all night while the midfield worked tirelessly to snuff out the home side and set their own attack moving.

Le Tissier proved he can still hit a sweet pass either long or short while Rosler regained his sharpness and might have had a hat-trick.

In all it was a tidy and very professional performance to ease their way into tonight's third round draw which will once again be made for all stages through to the final.

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