Saints under-21 coach Martin Hunter was left “delighted” after his ten-man side were crowned champions of the Under-21 Premier League Cup tonight.

Hunter led his side to the first piece of youth silverware for the club since 2006 despite getting Harrison Reed sent-off late on in normal time.

Sam Gallagher’s sublime strike four minutes into extra-time settled the issue and the club’s technical director was rightly pleased.

“I'm delighted,” he said.

“Some of their individual defending and the way they conducted themselves when we went down to ten men was flipping brilliant.

“It’s absolutely vital for us, we’re in the business of producing young players into the first team.

“As you can hear they are rather pleased about that,” he added as his team vociferously celebrated.

“The winning mentality is something that’s sacrosanct for these young players to get into the first team.

“We’re looking for players that can play in Europe now, therefore the fence that they’ve got to jump over gets even higher.”

Hunter’s voice was a bit worse for wear after standing on the fringes of his technical area marshalling his side to victory as more than 12,000 fans packed St Mary’s for the occasion.

When asked if he’d shouted himself horse, he said: “I have indeed and I’ve got a few more grey hairs, if that’s possible... but I doubt it.”

“We’ve been chatting before, you don’t get many chances as a player to play in a final and win it.

“So they’ve done really really well.

“But this isn’t just a thing for those players, this is a thing for the club and the academy.

“All the hard work that goes on, some of these boys have been here since they were eight years of age, so that’s the biggest plus.”

The supporters rallied behind the under-21 side, especially when Ryan Seager’s opener was cancelled out by Matt Targett’s own-goal.

They were then in fine voice as Reed was dismissed for a second bookable offence.

“They’re terrific supporters, they want the young players to do well,” Hunter said.

“The club is steeped in history like that and long may that continue.

“It’s the soul of the club.

“The support was terrific from the first minute to the last minute until the end of extra-time.”

Gallagher’s winning goal was also a subject of pride.

“We’ve got high hopes for him,” he said. “He’s had it difficult with injury, so that’ll long be in his memory.”