Burnley See Off Southampton For Cup Progression

11/02/2025 11:00 Share

Debutant Marcus Edwards was the hero for Burnley after the EFL Championship side progressed to the fifth round of the FA Cup with victory against Southampton.

The Bristol Street Motors-backed side had needed extra time to beat Reading in the third round, and were rewarded with a trip to the south coast to take on Premiership opposition.

The visitors started in positive fashion, with Manuel Benson having a shot cleared off the line before ‘keeper Vaclav Hladky was forced into a smart save to deny Ryan Manning having slipped when trying to make a clearance.

Jeremy Sarmiento then forced Alex McCarthy into a save with a shot from the edge of the box, with Tyler Dibling flashing a shot just wide at the other end as the two sides couldn’t be split at the break.

Burnley’s defence continued to stay strong after the break with Manning again denied by Hladky before Kamaldeen Sulemana beat the Czech player with a curling shot that went wide of the post.

The breakthrough finally came with less than 15 minutes on the clock when Burnley broke down the left hand side and a shot from Sarmiento was deflected into the air inside the box.

Hannibal got to it first to steer the ball into the middle where Edwards – on loan from Portuguese giants Sporting Lisbon – was on hand to knock it into the net.

Burnley held on to secure another clean sheet and a place in the fifth round for the third time in the last five seasons, and will now make the short trip to local rivals Preston North End in the next round.