Rangers youngster Ross McCrorie was powerless to resist as he was a second-half substitute in Portsmouth’s 4-0 Carabao Cup derby humbling to fierce rivals Southampton.
Ross is no stranger to ferocious local derbies having played in the Old Firm several times, but the gap between the Premier League and League One sides proved too much.
Where the South Coast derby was once a more competitive affair, megabucks Saints blew Pompey away with two goals in either half.
McCrorie – who’s not been having the greatest spell on the south coast – came on in the 82nd minute to replace midfielder Ben Close and get a taste for the derby.
But a double from Danny Ings and a solitary strike from Cedric Soares had Southampton out of sight at St. Mary’s by the time he’d come on.
Nathan Redmond added insult to injury whilst McCrorie was on the pitch to complete the scoring and send the red and white half of the south coast home happy.
It’s frustrating for McCrorie, who’d spoken of his excitement about being involved in the derby prior to kick off.
He even described it as being “up there” with Glasgow’s Old Firm [Sky Sports].
Coming off the bench, there was little the youngster could do to prevent the Saints steamrollering their biggest rivals in what was the first South Coast derby since April 2012.
The last time both sides met it was at St. Mary’s more than seven years ago with both sides played out an entertaining 2-2 draw in the English Championship.
