Sunderland 1-0 Southampton: Gardner thunderbolt blasts Black Cats into last eight The former Birmingham City midfielder provided the game's only moment of real quality when he crashed a thunderous shot beyond Kelvin Davis four minutes after the break

Craig Gardner's long-range screamer sent
Sunderland into the quarter-finals of the FA
Cup after a hard-fought victory over
Southampton at the Stadium of Light.
Gus Poyet's side continued their excellent
form in cup competitions as they reached the
last eight, but only after Rickie Lambert
somehow contrived to clear the crossbar
from two yards in the closing stages.
Gardner's stunning strike five minutes after
the break proved decisive, the midfielder
turning away from Victor Wanyama before
firing home from outside the penalty area.
Sunderland had several chances to make it
more comfortable but none as good as the
one presented to England man Lambert,
whose miss let the hosts off the hook.
Poyet, whose men remain embroiled in
relegation trouble, promised to ring the
changes ahead of a busy schedule for his side
and he duly obliged, making nine alterations
as forward Ignacio Scocco was handed his
debut.
Mauricio Pochettino has no such problems,
with his charges eighth in the table, but he
made six changes as both sides struggled to
find their rhythm in a frenetic opening.
The visitors had the first opportunity, Adam
Lallana finding Lambert with a cross before
the striker nodded down for James Ward-
Prowse, whose effort was well saved by Oscar
Ustari.
Poyet was angered by the officials' decision
not to award a penalty when Fabio Borini
went down under the challenge of defender
Luke Shaw after 12 minutes.
Emanuele Giaccherini then squandered a
promising opportunity when he failed to get a
shot away after dribbling his way into the
Southampton area.
Lambert was denied an excellent chance to
put his side ahead eight minutes before the
break when Santiago Vergini executed a well-
timed tackle in the box.
Gardner sparked the game into life with 50
minutes gone, putting his side ahead with a
long-range strike that crashed in off the
underside of Kelvin Davis' bar.
It was Gardner's third goal of the season and
the visitors struggled to mount a response,
with Pochettino opting to introduce Jay
Rodriguez and Morgan Schneiderlin just after
the hour mark.
Connor Wickham should have made it two 17
minutes from time but he failed to connect
with a pass when through on goal, while
Lallana could only put Nathaniel Clyne's cross
wide from close range.
Pochettino must have realised it was not to be
Southampton's day when Lambert spooned
Clyne's low cross over the bar with the goal at
his mercy as Sunderland sent the visitors
crashing out of a second cup competition this
season following their 2-1 Capital One Cup
win in November.