In the 15th round of the English League One, Southampton played at home against Oldham, which is currently ranked 17th.

Most of Southampton's main players are resting, with Gu Ran, Lallana and Hammond taking the lead. Captain Davis is still recovering from injury, and vice-captain Walton is still on the bench.

This is the first time that Gu Ran wore the captain’s armband of the Southampton team!

Taking advantage of the excitement of being the captain for the first time, Gu Ran led half of the Southampton team's substitutes and beat Oldham team 7 goals in one breath.

Southampton's total points reached 42 points, continuing to dominate the list.

At 3 pm on November 6th, the first knockout round of the FA Cup began, with Southampton away challenging Torquay United.

In this game, Gu Ran sat on the bench and Southampton was in a clear advantage.

In the end, Gu Ran did not get a chance to play, and Southampton easily eliminated Torquay United 4:1 and qualified for the second round of the FA Cup.

Immediately afterwards, at 7:45 p.m. on Wednesday, November 10, the quarter-finals of the English Championship Herald Cup Winners' Cup South Division began, with Southampton hosting League Two team Dagenham.

Gu Ran started the game and, as captain, led the Southampton substitute team to eliminate Dagenham with a score of 5:2 and advance to the semi-finals of the Southern Division.

At 3 pm on Saturday, November 13, the 16th round of the English League One, Southampton will challenge Milton Keynes away.

Milton Keynes is not a weak team and its performance in recent rounds has been very eye-catching. Its ranking in English League One has risen to 6th place.

In this game, Coach Adkins also sent out most of the main players.

Captain Davis also returned from injury.

Gu Ran appeared directly at the defensive midfielder position.

The game ended with Southampton beating Milton Keynes 2-0.

Southampton's total points reached 45, 12 points ahead of second-placed Brighton.

After this game, Southampton will have a three-day holiday so that they can have sufficient physical strength to face the 17th round of the English League One a week later, which is also the home game against Brighton.

Gu Ran took advantage of this short holiday to go to Haydn Manor for a horseback ride and relax.

After all, combining work and rest can make you more efficient.

At 3 pm on Saturday, November 20, the 17th round of the English League One, the match between the first-placed Southampton and the second-placed Brighton began.

This match was also the focus of the English Football League One, and major media and scouts came to watch the game.

The odds given by William Hill are 1.85 for home win, 3.75 for draw and 4.25 for loss.

Judging from this handicap, bookmakers are still more inclined to believe that Southampton can take all three points at home, but Brighton is not completely without chance.

All the main players of the Southampton team started, and Gu Ran still appeared in the position of defensive midfielder. The previous defensive midfielder Hammond has been practicing in the new position of left back during this period. Hammond’s training is quite good at the moment, so Hammond appeared in the position of left back in this game.

Southampton was also very familiar with Brighton's style of play. After the start, both sides did not test each other too much and started to attack directly.

The pace of the game was very fast and the physical confrontation was extremely strong, and of course there were many mistakes made by both sides.

Seven minutes into the game, Gu Ran passed the ball directly to Lallana near the center line, and Lallana stopped the ball, turned around and took a long shot.

The kick was very sudden, but the power was not enough. Brighton goalkeeper Casper Ankergren dived to save the ball, but it slipped out of his hands.

Connery rushed forward and created chaos in the small penalty area, and Gully followed up with a shot and scored the goal!

However, the linesman raised his flag, indicating that the ball was offside.

Brighton also escaped a disaster.

In the 20th minute, Gu Ran intercepted the ball from Brighton midfielder Craig Noone in the backcourt, and Gu Ran immediately sprinted with a violent aesthetic, dribbling the ball straight into Brighton's penalty area! After a series of games, especially after the game against Everton, Gu Ran's speed, physical confrontation, and footwork have obviously improved to a higher level. Moreover, Gu Ran's threat directly in the defensive midfielder position was originally more threatening on the left side. Brighton's midfielders tried their best but could not stop Gu Ran.

This is definitely a terrifying thing for Brighton.

You know, Brighton's 41212 formation focuses on controlling the center. In the last game against Southampton, they used this tactic to put Southampton under pressure.

But only one month had passed, and Southampton put Gu Ran in the defensive midfielder position, and Brighton's central axis was blasted through by Gu Ran in one breath.

When Gu Ran dribbled the ball to the top of the arc, Brighton's two defenders Adam El Aboud and Gordon Gill could only knock Gu Ran to the ground by fouling.

The referee pulled out a yellow card and awarded Southampton a free kick in the frontcourt.

The ball goes in! Southampton leads 1:0 at home!

Then, in the 24th minute, Brighton continued to attack along the middle road they were proud of.

Gu Ran went straight forward and made a death sliding tackle between No. 10 Matt Sparrow and No. 7 Conor Clifford, accurately disrupting the pass between the two.

After Lambert picked up the ball, he immediately passed it to the left side where the defense was weak.

Chamberlain sprinted with the ball and cut inside.

Gu Ran and Lallana followed behind to provide support.

Facing Brighton's dense defense, Chamberlain couldn't cut in and could only turn half way and knock the ball back to Gu Ran who was following up quickly.

Gu Ran did not hesitate and volleyed the ball! The ball then shot into the net neatly! Southampton scored two goals in 5 minutes! Brighton's central axis had been completely destroyed by Gu Ran alone!

However, Brighton's offensive momentum remained unabated. Even though they were two goals behind, Brighton still dared to fight back against Southampton.

In the 38th minute of the game, Matt Sparrow of Brighton made a cross from the right, and Aaron Martin, a young defender of Southampton, jumped up to defend with a header, but the ball landed right at the feet of Chris Wood, who fired a long shot from outside the penalty area! Goalkeeper Davis jumped sideways but was too late to intercept... The ball went in!

Brighton tenaciously pulled one goal back! The score on the big screen changed to Southampton 2:1 Brighton.

In the injury time of the first half, Brighton took a corner kick from the left side of the frontcourt. The ball was touched by Inigo Calderon at the front point and changed its direction strangely. Brighton striker Christian Baz in front of the goal raised his foot and kicked it. Davis failed to react and the ball flew into the Southampton goal!

Southampton's defensive players immediately raised their hands to appeal to the referee and the linesman! This ball was clearly an offside goal, Christian Baz was at least half a body offside!

However, after some discussion, the linesman and the referee upheld the original decision and ruled that the goal was valid! The score between the two sides immediately became 2:2! It must be said that the match between the No. 1 and No. 2 on the list was really intense and full of suspense.

After the start of the second half, the two sides changed sides and continued the game.

At the beginning of the second half, Gu Ran dribbled the ball from his backcourt to the midline. Without waiting for Augustin Battipidi to come up to fight for the ball, Gu Ran directly lobbed the ball! Brighton goalkeeper Casper Ankergren was obviously not ready! The ball lobbed into the net!

All the Southampton fans were excited in an instant!

Having Gu Ran is like having nuclear weapons! Brighton worked hard to equalize the score, but at the beginning of the second half, Gu Ran scored a long-range world wave and took the lead again! Brighton, who fell behind again, continued to strengthen their offensive, especially the breakthrough on the central axis.

However, with Gu Ran guarding the middle and Lambert's support, Southampton's central axis was as stable as a rock.

Brighton's consecutive waves of fierce attacks ultimately came to nothing.

In the 76th minute of the game, Brighton's midfielder Agustin Battipidi fell to the ground due to injury in a confrontation with Gu Ran and was unable to continue the game.

As a South American player whose advantage is confrontation, Battipidi has hit a wall this time.

Southampton launched a quick counterattack when Batistuta was injured and the new players had not yet had time to come on as substitutes.

Gu Ran made a wonderful pass to Chamberlain, who cut into the penalty area and passed the ball low in front of the goal to Guli who was running in from the back row. Guli pushed the ball and the score became Southampton 4:2 Brighton.

Brighton continued to attack while using an offside tactic.

The offside tactic is very dangerous and it is easy to get burned, but Southampton's forwards were indeed not smart enough and fell into the offside trap three times in a row.

Seeing this situation, Gu Ran no longer sent unnecessary shells to the forward line, but instead dribbled the ball forward and looked for an opportunity to shoot.

In the 85th minute, Gu Ran dribbled the ball all the way to the top of the penalty area, Matthews lowered his shoulder to create a gap, and then shot a violent shot into the goal! The score was immediately rewritten to Southampton 5:2 Brighton!

There is no suspense in this match between the No.1 and No.2! Brighton is doomed!

In the end, the referee blew the whistle to end the game and Southampton took all three points!

After the game, Gu Ran exchanged jerseys with the opposing player Chris Wood in a friendly manner.

After the 17th round of the English League One, Southampton's total points reached 48 points. Although Brighton is still in second place, it is 15 points behind Southampton.

After the game, Southampton's main players had a day off and then returned to Staplewood training ground to prepare for the 18th round of the English League One away game against Orient.

On this day, the results of the second round of the FA Cup draw have been announced:

On Saturday, November 27 at 5:30 pm, in the second knockout round of the FA Cup, Southampton will face Swindon Town, another League One team, at home.

...(End of this chapter)