Southampton 1-1 Ipswich Town: Flynn Downes post-match reaction
Former Ipswich Town talent Flynn Downes said it was ‘funny’ to lead Southampton against his old club, but the result left him ‘gutted.’
Downes, who signed for Russell Martin’s side in the summer, captained the Saints for the first time in the Premier League, with club skipper Jack Stephens suspended.
The 25-year-old, whom Town also pursued in the summer window, became the Blues’ youngest-ever captain aged just 20 back in 2019.
Martin said after the match that Downes was ‘really, really good’ – but the Town academy product said he was crushed by Sam Morsy’s late, late leveller.
“I’m gutted,” he admitted. “I don’t want to be negative, but it feels like a loss and it’s hard to take at the minute.
“There were so many positives to take from it, but we’ve got to see the game out – either control the game or put it to bed by getting a second.
It was the second straight game in which Town have grabbed points late against the Saints, this drama following on from Jeremy Sarmiento’s iconic injury time winner at Portman Road last season.
The result leaves Southampton with just one point from their first five games of the season and sitting 18th in the top tier, a place and two points behind Ipswich.
“It’s such a tough one to take,” Downes admitted, after being asked about conceding late to Town again. “20 yards out, deflection, top corner. It’s so hard.
“But we’ve got to look at things before that. We’ve got to stop the crosses. It’s the 90th minute, we’ve got to control the game, we’ve got to be smarter.
“But we’ve got to take the positives from the game and move on.”
Of being skipper against the side he once captained, he added: “It was a bit of a bad one! But to captain this club, with all them boys and all the staff, in front of all the fans, it was a real honour in my career, probably the biggest one I’ve had.
“It was a pleasure, and it was funny doing it against them.”
Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur both got over last weekend’s setbacks with home wins, while Nottingham Forest remain the surprise unbeaten side in the division after a 2-2 draw at Brighton.
Eddie Howe’s Newcastle United lost their own unbeaten start after finally running out of luck at Fulham.
This was also a record-breaking weekend in the Premier League. At its close, six different clubs had failed to win any of their first five matches of an English top-flight season for the first time ever.
The three promoted clubs probably would have taken not getting caught adrift, but they are going need a win pretty damn soon…
