Chey Adams’ double helped Southampton come from behind and avoid a shock defeat against League One Lincoln City in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup.
The win gave Nathan Jones his first win as Saints boss, having lost his only previous match in charge at Liverpool on 12 November.
His side fell behind when Gavin Bazono failed to deal with Ainley Maitland-Niles’ chipped clearance.
But Adams saw off Southampton with goals either side of the break.
The two goals represent the first time Southampton have scored more than one in a game since their win over Chelsea on 30 August.
This is the first time they have reached the quarter-finals of the competition since losing to Manchester United in the 2017 final.
“I’m not happy with how tight it is, but Lincoln is a well-drilled side,” Jones told BBC Radio Solent.
“We needed to be more clinical and show more quality in some moments and if we had done that we would have won the game very quickly.
“I’ll win because it’s important. It’s something to build on. There was a lot of learning curve for me.”
Having waited more than six weeks for his home bow after joining from Luton, Jones would wanted a better start, but Bazunu, under pressure from Paudie O’Connor, failed to deal with the miscued clearance and the ball bounced in.
It took Southampton a while to settle but they found an equaliser when Mohamed Elyounoussi found space on the right side of the area and dinked into the box for Adams – who may have been offside – to power a header home.
Lincoln, playing in the fourth round for the first time since 1967-68, were the better side at the start of the second half, but Jones made a triple substitution and changed from 5-3-2 to 4-3-3.
It brought immediate improvement, and the second goal arrived when Elyounoussi’s acrobatic effort was blocked and then bundled over the line by Adams for his second double in the competition this season.
Lincoln pushed for an equaliser late on leaving gaps for Southampton to exploit, with Samuel Edozie and Adams both missing gilt-edged chances to add to the scoring for Saints.
