SAINTS' Carling Cup nightmare at Watford meant misery for exiled fans across the world.

The shockwaves of the 5-2 setback at Vicarage Road were felt as far afield as China for expat supporter Jonathan Peters.

The world's most populous nation woke up on Thursday to the headline 'Shameful Southampton thrashed by Watford'.

And for Peters, who hails from Winchester, seeing his team making headline news for the first time in communist China brought both excitement and disappointment.

Peters, a English teacher in Beijing, said: "It's rare for the newspapers here to report anything other than Manchester, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and, because of the Chinese player Sun Jihai, Man City.

"When I was told Saints were on the sports pages I bought a few copies.

"I play football for a local team and have been extolling the virtues of following Southampton."

Peters, 36, is planning to launch a Saints Supporters Club in the Chinese capital and added: "I've shirts over which they wear all the time. "But I'm too embarrassed to show them and talk about this report, rare as it is. It's going to be hard trying to get more people here to follow Southampton and not the big clubs with results like that."

Peters, who left Winchester a year ago to move to the Far East, listens on the Internet to radio broadcasts of Saints matches. "I was going to get the lads round to listen on the Internet to the Pompey clash. But in China, face-saving is a big custom. I may have to cancel," he rued.