City were winners in both games against last season’s relegated outfit in the regular Championship season
Shea Charles celebrates the semi-final win over Middlesbrough(Image: Matt Watson/Southampton FC via Getty Images)
Shea Charles believes Southampton will have added incentive when they take on Hull City in Saturday’s Championship play-off final at Wembley.
The Tigers completed the league double over Southampton for the first time since the 1950/51 campaign when they secured a 3-1 home win in September, and an impressive 2-1 success at St Mary’s in mid-January.
Those two defeats have given the South Coast outfit added incentive, says Charles, who bagged the winning goal to see off Middlesbrough deep into extra-time at the end of a play-off semi-final fraught with controversy owing to spying allegations.
Southampton’s place in Saturday’s Wembley showpiece remains uncertain as they await the outcome of the independent disciplinary panel hearing, after they were charged by the EFL.
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“Of course [it will be a really tough game]. They’ve got some great players up top and some good defensive players,” Charles told the Daily Echo.
“We know that it’s going to be a tough game. We’ve not beaten them this season, so that’s something to really motivate us so that we can, hopefully, go and beat them.”
Since losing to the Tigers, Southampton have gone unbeaten in the remaining 21 games in the Championship, which saw them go close to chasing an automatic promotion spot, before finishing fourth.
Charles feels nothing can stop the South Coast as they look to recover from their defeat to Manchester City at Wembley in the FA Cup semi-final last month.
“There is a completely different feeling around the club,” he continued. “We’ve been able to give the fans what they deserve and win games to put ourselves in a position that we should be. Even on Tuesday, conceding early, there was a completely different feeling compared to if we had conceded an early goal back then.
“We are so together as a team, and we feel as if nothing can stop us at the moment, but we have one more game to focus on, and hopefully we can win.
“We’ve got a really good squad, the depth is just incredible, really. We’ve worked so well. Whether you are starting games or coming on and affecting the game, we are just so together as a team that it has been working so well.
“I can’t wait to get back [to Wembley] – it didn’t go the way we wanted it to go last time, but we’ve been given another opportunity. Hopefully, this time we can take it.”
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