Stoke City fought back from two goals down to draw level with Southampton before going down to 10 men and conceding late on to lose 3-2 in tonight's League Cup clash at the Britannia Stadium.
The visitors drew first blood in just the sixth minute of the game when Graziano Pelle picked the ball up in the middle, pushed forward through the Potters' defence and lashed a curling effort past Asmir Begovic.
Ronald Koeman's charges would go on to double their lead on the half-hour mark when a Steven Davis cross fell kindly to the unmarked Shane Long, who had the simple task of tapping into the goal to secure his first strike in a Saints jersey.
Towards the end of the first half, Stoke were able to get the ball into the back of the net, but Jonathan Walters's effort was flagged for offside.
It didn't take long for Mark Hughes's side to pull a goal back come the restart, however, with Steven N'Zonzi firing a low effort from 25 yards into the bottom corner just three minutes in.
Southampton then had a good spell around the hour mark when Long's effort following a counter-attack was thwarted by Begovic, before Victor Wanyama bore down one-on-one following some good interaction with Dusan Tadic, with the Potters stopper holding firm once again.
Stoke eventually equalised when Phil Bardsley's near-post flick-on was nodded into the net by Mame Biram Diouf with just eight minutes to go.
However, the hosts imploded when Peter Crouch was sent off for two bookings in the space of two minutes, with the subsequent free kick being duly converted by Pelle in the 88th minute to send Southampton into the quarter-finals of the competition.
Giuseppe Labellarte
