Southampton U21's played Celtic on Wednesday evening at AFC Totton, after leading at half time Saints U21 boss Adam Asghar made several changes that gave a big hint at the squad who will be on duty at Vicarage Road to take on Watford in the FA Cup on Sunday.

Saints U21 side last 3-1 to their counterparts from Celtic on Wednesday evening and led at the the break, however a triple change at half time gave a big indication about the side that will take on Watford in the FA Cup 4th round, although ultimately it cost the U21 side any chance of victory with Celtic scoring three times in the second period to run out comfortable winners.

However the priority appears to be on the first team and Jayden Meghoma, Tyler Dibling and Sam Amo- Ameyaw all came off at half time , presumably to make sure that they were fit for the trip to Watford, although Cameron Bragg who appeared in the previous round as a late substitute completed the full 90 minutes so perhaps won't be travelling on Sunday.

U21 Coach Adam Asghar told The Daily Echo

"The International Cup is a great competition and we want a strong league finish to qualify next year.

"We scored a fantastic goal through Thierry (Rohart-Brown)and a great ball from Cam Bragg but we had three prescribed changes we had to make.

"Hopefully, those changes are for positive reasons - but we knew the second half would be a big challenge and we had boys out of position.

So clearly Russell Martin had had a hand in the team selection and wanted the trio of youngsters rested for the second half.

Asgha also commented on Kamari Doyle's departure from St Mary's, some Saints supporters had high hopes for Doyle after his brief cameo appearance last season, ironically at his new club Brighton.

"It is always going to happen at this level, It depends on what certain players want or what they feel they need and you can debate whether they are right or wrong decisions.

"I never had the fortune of working with Kami because he was injured from day one when I arrived.

"In my dealings with him, he has been a good young man and I wish him all the best with the decision he has made."

So clearly the move was driven by the player who saw opportunities at Brighton rather than at Saints.

Photo: Action Images

TimSaint added 14:48 - Jan 25 In the text message I got from Saints at 17:13pm last night, they invited me to the game for £1, but failed to mention they would be subbing our 3 most promising players at Half Time !! :-)
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underweststand added 15:17 - Jan 25 The lads mentioned ...(Meghoma, Sam A-A and Tyler Dibling) have all travelled with the first team, and got a few minutes game time so far this season and now they have an opportunity to DAJFU, and regardless of the result, show what they are capable of. This is Watford in the Cup, so we don't have to worry about losing 3 points -especially as the first team were fortunate to come away with one point back in December against a very aggressive side whose only chance of glory this season will be a Cup run. Expect most of the first team to be on the bench at the start...unless RM has a Plan B.

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