Will Smallbone started his second game of the season as Southampton defeated West Ham 3-1 in the FA Cup on Wednesday night.
The Ireland U21 international's game time for the Premier League team has been limited since he returned to full fitness in October following an ACL injury.
The 22-year-old lined out for the Southampton B side at the weekend, the merits of which he had to be convinced of by Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhüttl.
Into the next round 😃 Have missed playing at St Mary’s 😍👏 pic.twitter.com/WixbfXyKlH
— Will Smallbone (@WSmallbone) March 2, 2022
Hasenhüttl made nine changes to the Southamton team for the fifth round tie against West Ham from the side which defeated Norwich in the Premier League at the weekend. Smallbone, who played 80 minutes, was one of those changes in midfield.
"Yeah, we have to look on everybody, not young or older,” Southampton manager Hasenhüttl told the Daily Echo.
"Longy needs game time, same like Will. We had Will on the weekend in the B team, playing 60 minutes.
"It was important for me that he gets the game time there, and now, today started and I think he did a good job and this is why it is important to when you come in a team where the alternatives are there, then it's always easier.
Will Smallbone having a bloody fantastic game for us... Looks like he has a big future ahead of him for sure!#SaintsFC
— ᵈᵃⁿⁿʸ (@SaintsDanSFC) March 2, 2022
"Today we had a lot of changes so it was a little bit hard in the beginning to find the rhythm, but in the end, I must say I'm very proud of what the guys did today."
Picture credit: P.Cartwright / Shutterstock.com and Seb Daly/Sportsfile
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