Alex McCarthy reflects on the Southampton win that led to wild celebrations

Part two of my most memorable matches with Saints is that night in Swansea back in May 2018, which I know you all remember very fondly. It’s a day that the club will remember for many years to come but one we don’t want to go through again!

SWANSEA 0-1 SOUTHAMPTON – TUESDAY 8TH MAY, 2018

So, just to give some background information – the Saturday prior to this game, we had just conceded an injury-time equaliser at Everton which meant we were level on points with Swansea, with two games to go. It was effectively a play-off final to stay in the Premier League. 

We were in at Staplewood Campus on Monday morning, for our final session before travelling up to Wales in the afternoon. That Monday you could just feel the pressure hanging over the whole club, but we were confident and believed in ourselves that we could get out of this.

Arriving in Swansea on the Monday was interesting, as some of you may remember there was an incident with our original hotel which saw them cancel our booking – make of that what you want!

The hotel situation was quickly sorted and on the morning of the game, we went for our stroll as a team. Throughout the day, the one thing that struck me was just how calm the team was. Don’t get me wrong, we all had nerves inside us, but the team was not showing it on the outside.

Alex McCarthy makes a fine save against Swansea (Pic: Matt Watson/Southampton FC)

Even when we arrived at the Liberty Stadium, the boys were still remarkably cool. We just wanted kick-off to arrive, as that whole day just went on forever, especially as it was an evening kick-off. I remember just standing in the tunnel before kick-off, thinking that we could not leave here without three points.

The first half was very cagey, as you would expect for a game of that magnitude. I remember Charlie Austin having probably the best chance of the half when a half volley fell his way just inside the box – though it went straight at Lukasz Fabianski in the Swansea goal.

It was 0-0 at half-time and the feeling and belief hadn’t changed one bit in that dressing room. Mark Hughes, who was the manager at that time, didn’t really have to say much as we, as a team, knew what was needed from that second 45 minutes.

At the start of the second half came probably my favourite-ever save, as I mentioned in my piece last week. The ball fell to Jordan Ayew down the left-hand side, just outside the box and he hit a fantastic shot which was arrowing into the top right-hand corner of the goal. I managed to get my left hand onto the ball and tip it just over the bar. I always remember the sound of the home fans behind me, they were adamant it was flying in – it went from a cheer to an agonising sigh.

Twenty minutes or so had passed from that save, and I remember looking up at the scoreboard just after we had won a corner – time was beginning to run out. I looked back at what was unfolding from that corner, my vision wasn’t that clear, but I just remember seeing the ball fire back off Fabianski and Manolo Gabbiadini swing a foot at the ball.

Cue pandemonium in that away end. I badly wanted to run over and join in with the celebrations as they were wild. I kept telling myself that there were still twenty-odd minutes left. Minutes later, we lost Jan Bednarek to a head injury, with the game stopping for a good six or so minutes. 

McCarthy punches the ball away from danger during the match (Pic: Matt Watson/Southampton FC)

Swansea huffed and puffed but I can’t recall being forced into action that much in the final stages. The fourth official held up the board for SEVEN minutes of added time, which were possibly the longest seven minutes of my life. Remember that we had conceded an injury-time equaliser at Everton three days before, so that was lingering in the back of all our minds.

But the emotions when that full-time whistle blew were nothing except relief. It was a monumental effort both mentally and emotionally from the whole team but the belief was always there that we would get out of it.

The celebrations that followed were memorable and the whole team came together and celebrated with our fans in the away end. They had been there with us throughout that tough season and the win that evening was for them.

And the celebrations didn’t end on the pitch either, the dressing room was chaos once we’d all filtered back in. Gabbiadini was being serenaded with songs and chants following his goal – followed by bucket loads of water being thrown over one another and some interesting dance moves on display.

When we headed into Staplewood the next day for our recovery sessions, the whole club was on cloud nine. We knew just how much the win meant to everyone connected at the football club and that’s what made it so special.

I personally never want to be in a position like that ever again. However, what followed that evening will live long in the memory as being one of my favourite nights in my career.