SOUTHAMPTON manager Alan Pardew - a two-time semi-final Championship play-off victor for West Ham over the Blues - expressed his relief at his side's FA Cup win on Saturday.

Elvin King

IPSWICH TOWN: Southampton manager Alan Pardew - a two-time semi-final Championship play-off victor for West Ham over the Blues - expressed his relief at his side's FA Cup win on Saturday.

“A lot of teams have trouble dealing with Ipswich,” said Pardew.

“They've got some good young players and move the ball around quickly in midfield.

“We struggled until we changed our formation and that seemed to work well for us.”

Pardew was as surprised as anyone to see Wayne Thomas' 25 yard shot scream into the net for the Saints opener.

He explained: “It was a shock to me.

“I can't say that Wayne does that in training because he doesn't.

“It was a fantastic effort and you need breaks like that and we got our goals at the right times.

“The second was very, very important because we needed to show a bit of quality and we did that by scoring another goal.

“Our focus is very much the league but we're taking everything that comes our way at the moment and any cup success is a nice bonus.”

Pardew admitted his appreciation of Pablo Counago's talents.

“Counago's a very good player,” he said.

“I've always liked him and he showed a bit of quality with his goal later in the game. And from where I was I couldn't see anything wrong with Ipswich's earlier 'goal'.