Report | Southampton 0 Swansea City 0

Swansea City picked up a point on the road at Southampton with a hard-fought draw at St Mary's.

On an afternoon when they were not at their best, the visitors stuck at their task to emerge with something to show for their efforts at a ground that has been a far from happy hunting ground in recent years.

They required some dogged defending and fine goalkeeping, with Lawrence Vigouroux denying Adam Armstrong, Leo Scienza and Shea Charles, while Scienza and Caspar Jander hit the woodwork for Saints.

The Swans had shown two changes from the defeat to Leicester before the international break, with Zeidane Inoussa and Ethan Galbraith returning to the starting line-up as Jisung Eom and Liam Cullen dropped to the bench.

Vigouroux easily held Armstrong’s shot from the edge of the box inside the opening 90 seconds.

The Swans then swept upfield after good reading of play by Marko Stamenic allowed him to steal the ball and feed Ronald. The Brazilian looked to pick out supporting runners but his cross was cut out.

At the other end Shea Charles ruffled the side-netting after a driving run had taken him into the Swansea area.

Inoussa saw a shot blocked after cutting inside before Southampton had the best chance yet when Cameron Archer arrived a strike just over the bar from a Charles pass.

They went closer still on the half hour as Scienza’s clever shot evaded Vigouroux and came back off the post, where Archer fired wide with the goal at his mercy.

That had come moments after Armstrong had bent an effort wide of the far post.

Stamenic then made a tremendous covering challenge to deny Armstrong a tap in after Scienza had burst along the byline and into the box.

And it still needed an outstanding point-blank save from Vigouroux to deny Nathan Wood’s header and ensure the Swans returned to the dressing rooms with the scores level.

Southampton continued to press for an opener early in the second half; Scienza should have done better than firing over after being found by a raking pass downfield.

Galbraith had an effort blocked at the other end after good pressing work by Inoussa.

Swansea began to get more of a foothold in the game as the hour mark came and went, and Adam Idah, Malick Yalcouye and Eom were summoned from the bench for the closing stages.

But they got an almighty let-off with 15 minutes to go when Vigouroux did well to save from Armstrong and Jander sent the follow-up against the post and then still couldn't convert as the ball rolled across the face of goal.

Vigouroux then got down to gather in a tame, low shot from Charles as the home side ramped up the pressure, but the visitors - who saw Kaelan Casey have a couple of headed opportunities late on - did enough to come away with a share of the spoils.

Swansea City: Lawrence Vigouroux; Josh Key, Ben Cabango (captain), Cameron Burgess, Josh Tymon; Marko Stamenic (Jay Fulton 85), Goncalo Franco, Ethan Galbraith (Malick Yalcouye 70); Ronald (Kaelan Casey 85), Zeidane Inoussa (Jisung Eom 70), Zan Vipotnik (Adam Idah 62).

Substitutes: Andy Fisher, Melker Widell, Ishe Samuels-Smith, Liam Cullen.

Southampton: Alex McCarthy, Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Adam Armstrong (captain), Ronnie Edwards, Leo Scienza (Finn Azaz 85), Nathan Wood, Cameron Archer (Jay Robinson 70), Caspar Jander, Shea Charles, Welington (Ryan Fraser 85), Elias Jelert (Tom Fellows 70).

Substitutes: Gavin Bazunu, Ryan Manning, Flynn Downes, Jack Stephens, Damion Downs.

Referee: Josh Smith

Attendance: 27,256