Shea Charles stunner helps promotion-chasing Southampton see off Oxford

A Shea Charles wonder goal helped promotion-chasing Southampton secure their ninth Championship win in 12 games with a 2-0 victory over Oxford.

Cyle Larin was also on target as Saints extended their unbeaten run to 14 games in all competitions and consolidated their place in the top six.

With his side having already played 17 times since the turn of the year, boss Tonda Eckert made changes to a team that had shown signs of fatigue during the mid-week triumph over Norwich.

With the influential Leo Scienza still out with a groin injury, Eckert moved Finn Azaz out to the left and brought in Cameron Archer to play behind Larin.

Matt Bloomfield’s resurgent Oxford arrived in Southampton for their first league fixture in the city for almost 40 years. Three wins from four games had given the visitors genuine hope of escaping the drop, but Saturday’s result leaves them second bottom.

Oxford caused a scare with an early near-post corner which Saints goalkeeper Daniel Peretz eventually grabbed hold of and, from his quick throw, the home side opened the scoring.

Taylor Harwood-Bellis found Tom Fellows with a defence-splitting pass and he pulled the ball across the six-yard box for Larin to prod home.

Saints’ momentum continued as they quickly stormed into a two-goal lead.

The second came from a quickly-taken corner which saw Archer find Charles 30 yards from goal and the Northern Ireland international curled a beautiful effort into the top right-hand corner.

Southampton were dominant in every department, although the pace of the game slowed after a frenetic opening 20 minutes.

Oxford’s best hope looked to be set-pieces. One corner dropped invitingly to Yunus Konak on the edge of the area, but he fired wastefully over the bar.

Saints started brightly in the second half and created an opening when Ryan Manning got down the left and picked out Azaz, who saw his effort blocked.

Bloomfield’s men were finally beginning to push and Cameron Brannagan and Will Lankshear both saw shots well blocked as the hosts were forced to dig in.

Eckert freshened things up as he brought on Ross Stewart and Sam Edozie in place of Larin and Archer with half-an-hour to play.

A slip from Harwood-Bellis let in Lankshear for a golden chance, but somehow the Tottenham loanee put his shot beyond the far post with only Peretz to beat.

That sparked Saints back into life and, after a flowing team move ended with Stewart having a shot parried, Fellows struck the underside of the crossbar with the follow-up.

There was a final late chance for substitute Nicholas Oyekunle, but two goals proved more than enough.