Full-time: Southampton 8 Sunderland 0

SUNDERLAND were crushed and the worst defeat in the club’s history was equalled on an afternoon to forget on the South Coast for Gus Poyet and his players.

A dreadful first half was followed by an even worse second at St Mary’s where a brilliant Southampton kept piling the misery on to a Black Cats side which kept on gifting the Saints goals.

Three were scored in the first half; all could have been avoided. Then there were a further FIVE after the restart to leave Gus Poyet quite rightly embarrassed by what his players had served up.

A bright enough start from the Black Cats, looking to build on a first Premier League victory against Stoke in their last outing, raised optimism among the 2,600-strong travelling support.

But once Santiago Vergini had calamitously scored one of the most comical own goals you will see anywhere this season in the 12th minute, the Saints went marching on.

Vergini, back on club duty after returning to the international fold with Argentina, blasted a hopeful cross from Morgan Schneiderlin inside Vito Mannone’s left hand post from just inside the box. It was the sort of finish any striker would have been proud of.

That error set the tone for the rest of the half. While elements of Sunderland’s play was encouraging going forward before the break, Southampton made the most of some poor defending to cruise in to a three-goal lead at the interval.

The second stemmed from a horrible ball out from the back by Will Buckley, which crashed off the back of team-mate Seb Larsson. Dusan Tadic picked up possession, rolled inn Steven Davis and the midfielder picked out in-form Graziano Pelle to convert from close range in the 18th minute.

Sunderland should have had a penalty when Steven Fletcher, who had chipped wide after collecting Lee Cattermole’s through pass, was upended by Fraser Forster in the box. Referee Andre Marriner failed to point to the spot and a minute later Southampton were three up.

Tadic was again involved. This time he darted down the line, centred to the back post where Jack Cork charged undetected to fire on goal. Mannone should still have stopped it, but the ball squirmed over the line and inside the netting.

Larsson wasted an immediate chance at the other end to pull one back when he backheeled a shot from close range wide of the target, but former Newcastle goalkeeper Forster was rarely tested seriously.

A failure to close the gap quickly in the second half led to the introduction of Adam Johnson and Jack Rodwell, who joined fellow substitute Liam Bridcutt on the pitch who played the second half at right-back. Seconds later, though, Patrick van Aanholt had to be alert to prevent a fourth on the line when Shane Long burst through to create and opening for Tadic.

But the fourth soon arrived. Pelle’s low shot from 12 yards was half saved by Mannone to his right, the ball was tricking towards the line and then Bridcutt got himself in a mess to mis-kick his clearance and help it in.

With 21 minutes remaining, Sunderland conceded a fifth and again Tadic and Pelle were the main men. The former’s through pass was met perfectly by the Italian striker’s run and finish after leaving Vergini behind.

Tadic got on the scoresheet himself 12 minutes before the end before teeing up Vincent Wanyama for the seventh moments later. 

There was then a slight reprieve - for all of seven minutes -  and Tadic, again, created it. He played a lovely pass inside for Saido Mane to side-foot the finish beyond the keeper to complete the rout.

Fortunately Sunderland saw out the remaining minutes without conceding a ninth. It was just one of those afternoons. In fact it was a lot worse than that.

SOUTHAMPTON (4-2-3-1): Forster; Clyne, Fonte, Alderweireld, Bertrand; Cork, Schneiderlin (Mane 65); Tadic, Davis (Wanyama 65), Long; Pelle (Mayuka 80). Subs (not used): K Davis (gk), Yoshida, Gardos, Reed.

SUNDERLAND (4-1-4-1): Mannone; Vergini, O’Shea, Brown (Bridcutt 46), Van Aanholt; Cattermole, Buckley, Gomez (Johnson 61), Larsson (Rodwell 61), Wickham; Fletcher. Subs (not used): Pantilimon (gk), Mavrias, Graham, Cabral.

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