At the end of the game, crazy Southampton fans rushed into the stadium and almost all the players were stripped naked.

Even the little fan Luke Shaw who rushed over to protect Gu Ran was stripped naked.

...He's still a kid! The Southampton players happily hid in the locker room, holding the championship trophy and medals in the locker room and celebrating wildly.

That night, the players went to the bar together to celebrate until the early hours of the morning.

Naturally, Gu Ran couldn't refuse. After all, this was a collective honor, and celebrating with his teammates was also a part of being part of the collective.

Fortunately, nothing particularly unusual happened that night.

It was not until the early morning of the next day that Gu Ran dragged himself back to the Sand Dune Villa to rest.

After a day of rest, at 3 pm on Saturday, February 19, the fifth round of the FA Cup, Southampton's away challenge against arch-rivals Portsmouth began.

This game was about honor, so Coach Adkins naturally fielded all the main players.

At the beginning of the game, Southampton's condition was obviously not hot, while Portsmouth seized the opportunity and launched a fierce attack.

If it weren't for the double defensive midfielder pair of Gu Ran and Mikel running wildly to make up for the deficit, Southampton would have been beaten into a sieve by Portsmouth long ago.

After the last game with Peterborough United, Southampton was too excited, which led to their poor form in this game, with repeated mistakes in both offense and defense.

In the 29th minute of the game, Portsmouth made a long pass from the backcourt to the right, breaking through Southampton's defense. Gu Ran quickly came to assist, but Portsmouth's left winger did not rush forward. Instead, he quickly passed the ball to the forward who was in a better position before Gu Ran came to assist. Portsmouth's forward took the lead in breaking through Southampton's goal.

Southampton is temporarily one goal behind.

However, less than 3 minutes later, Mikel made a wonderful pass near the center line to Gu Ran who had cut into the front of the penalty area. Gu Ran pushed away the two players defending him, and with Matthews's shoulder, he passed the player who was chasing him, created a gap, and directly took a world-class long shot!

The football fell into the net!

The score on the big screen immediately changed to Southampton 1:1 Portsmouth.

Portsmouth stepped up their attack, and Southampton, under the leadership of Gu Ran, finally regained their game form.

The two sides engaged in fierce close combat in the midfield and frontcourt.

In the injury time of the first half, in order to protect Gu Ran, Mikel roughly tackled the opposing player who reached out to pull Gu Ran and received a yellow card.

Portsmouth also got a free kick, but this free kick was more than 40 meters away, so Portsmouth could only kick the ball to the wall and let the tall players compete for the header.

Gu Ran jumped high and hit the first landing point. Chamberlain received the ball and quickly broke through along the side.

The Portsmouth players chased hard, and Gu Ran took the opportunity to go straight to the middle.

After Chamberlain went down the flank, he immediately stopped and made a triangle pass back to the middle. Gu Ran forced his way through the defense of two Portsmouth players. After getting the ball, he made a fake move to shake off the goalkeeper who was charging towards him and shot the ball into the empty goal!

The score on the big screen immediately changed to Portsmouth 1:2 Southampton! At the end of the first half, both teams returned to their respective locker rooms to rest.

In the 64th minute, Mikel intercepted the ball in the backcourt and made a quick short pass to Gu Ran who was supporting him. Gu Ran passed the ball to Lallana, and then he quickly moved to the relatively weak right side.

The center of gravity of Portsmouth's defensive formation immediately tilted to the right, but their speed was obviously not as fast as Gu Ran's sprinting speed.

Lallana took the opportunity to pass the ball to Gu Ran, who had cut into the right side of the penalty area and was not offside. Gu Ran didn't even stop the ball, but kicked it directly with a crescent-shaped kick while running, making the football draw an arc and hit the blind corner of the goal!

The score on the big screen was immediately changed to Portsmouth 1:3 Southampton! In the 72nd minute, Portsmouth got a corner kick opportunity, which was sent to the center of the penalty area. Both sides fought fiercely for the ball. No one got the first point, but Jaidi got the second point. However, before he could clear the ball, he was caught by a Portsmouth player. The Portsmouth striker took advantage of the chaos to turn around and shoot the ball into the net.

The goal also sparked protests from the Southampton team.

But both the referee and the linesman insisted that the goal was valid.

The score on the big screen immediately changed to Portsmouth 2:3 Southampton.

In the following game, the two sides were full of tension, but Coach Adkins had already warned in advance that no one should receive a technical foul or a red card in this game, otherwise it would affect the lineup for the next game against Tottenham.

Therefore, in terms of physical combat, Southampton is at a slight disadvantage.

Portsmouth also seized this point and kept harassing Southampton with small moves, causing Southampton's offense to be repeatedly interrupted.

But even so, it still couldn't stop Gu Ran from scoring.

In the 86th minute of the game, Gu Ran dribbled the ball all the way through, from the backcourt to the frontcourt as if he was in an empty space. After attracting at least 6 Portsmouth players, Gu Ran sent a crotch pass. Lallana took the ball and broke into the penalty area. Facing the Portsmouth goalkeeper, he confidently pushed the ball directly! The Portsmouth goalkeeper was not prepared in time and could only watch the goal being broken! The score on the big screen was rewritten as Portsmouth 2:4 Southampton! Time was running out for Portsmouth! Portsmouth launched an even crazier attack!

After all, this was a battle between mortal enemies. Portsmouth no longer intended to win and only wanted to eliminate several of Southampton's main players, so their interceptions were very rough and fierce.

Fortunately, the game time was up and the Southampton players did not suffer too many injuries.

In the end, the referee blew the whistle for the game, and the score was fixed at Portsmouth 2:4 Southampton.

Thanks to Gu Ran's outstanding performance, Southampton successfully defeated their arch-rivals and advanced to the 6th round of the FA Cup.

After this game, Southampton club's support among fans has increased significantly.

Coach Adkins announced a three-day vacation to recover his physical fitness.

At 7:45 pm on Wednesday, February 23, the 31st round of the English League One match between Southampton and Swindon City away began.

In this game, coach Adkins sent out a full substitute lineup, even Ward-Prowse, who had just been promoted from the reserve team, was sent to start. All of Southampton's main players, including captain Davis, stayed in the Staplewood base for secret training.

…

(End of this chapter)