Southampton won the battle of the South Coast in their FA Youth Cup tie with neighbours Portsmouth with a 7-0 thrashing.
The Premier League side cruised past their local rivals at St Mary's with a scoreline that will have grabbed the attention of first-team manager Mauricio Pochettino.
Southampton are already supplying an impressive amount of players to the Three Lions' senior and youth sides and a number of new and emerging stars put themselves in contention with an impressive display.
Southampton 7-0 Portsmouth
The FA Youth Cup
Third Round Proper
Tuesday 10 December 2013
Attendance: 3,814
Sam Gallagher was the hero of the evening with a second-half hat-trick, while Jake Hasketh bagged a brace, and there were also goals from Niall Mason and Mark Irvine.
Southampton's coach Paul Dodd said: "It was for me probably the best performance we’ve ever had. We were clinical. Some of the play tonight was just fantastic.
"It was pleasing that people were able to see it because the lads have been doing it regularly on the training ground but not transferring it on matchdays. I was really pleased for the players tonight.
"We’re used to bringing the lads to the stadium and sitting them in the stands to watch the first team play, so that’s why we were lucky enough yesterday to come to the stadium. The groundsman let us change in their changing room just to get used to the surroundings.
"Walking out, we were saying that Portsmouth are obviously going to be in your face, all these things that we’re not used to - so we were a bit unsure about how these lads we’re going to perform. They made it look comfortable just because we moved the ball and played some fantastic stuff."
Portsmouth academy boss Andy Awford said: "They are one of the best academy sides in the country. We came here and unfortunately the players froze.
"Southampton grew in confidence after scoring their third early in the second half, but we looked dispirited and it just got worse from there."
The home side had a more modest lead of just 2-0 at the break but Portsmouth, who were being watched by their first-team manager Richie Barker, were overcome in the second period.
Elsewhere, Sheffield Wednesday and Crystal Palace ended 4-4, after a thrilling encounter, with Wednesday triumphing 4-2 after a nail-biting penalty shootout.
In the biggest upset of the evening, West Ham, famed for their academy, were eliminated by Accrington Stanley, who won 2-1 in extra time.
Derby beat Wigan 4-3 in another high-scoring encounter. Rams boss Darren Wassell said: "At half-time, we told the lads not to let their heads drop and start the second half well, and they did.
"It should have been a comfortable victory after we went 4-1 up.
"We were creating chances to go five and six, and should have been able to see the game out a little bit better than we did but we created a few nervous moments for ourselves by conceding two sloppy goals.
"That put a little bit of a dampener on the game but overall it was a thoroughly deserved victory."
