Sam Gallagher’s outstanding decisive strike in extra-time saw ten-man Saints crowned Under-21 Premier League Cup winners with a 2-1 triumph over Blackburn Rovers at St Mary’s tonight.

In front of a bumper 12,356 crowd in the second leg of the final, Ryan Seager gave Martin Hunter’s under-21s a second half lead before Matt Targett’s own-goal levelled it with 21 minutes left.

Harrison Reed was shown a red card after picking a second yellow up with two minutes of normal time remaining.

But, despite being a man down, four minutes into the 30 added minutes Gallagher drove home what proved to be the winner in superb fashion from more than 20 yards.

Despite a string of first half chances for Saints it remained goalless into the second period.

Sam McQueen lashed two opportunities just over the bar while Dominic Gape almost saw a corner, in front of a packed Northam Stand, fly straight in, only for Rovers stopper David Raya to tip over.

The best chance of the half, however, fell to prolific scorer Seager.

Jake Hesketh glided into the box, where his shot was pushed away into the path of the Saints striker, who was subsequently denied by an outstanding block by defender Sam Jones eight yards out.

At the other end, Saints keeper Paulo Gazzaniga was alert to save from Dean Rittenberg’s powerful header that was heading into the top right of the net.

Daily Echo: Picture by James Chance

The home side’s dominance continued after the break, though the breakthrough remained anonymous.

Finally, after 142 goalless minutes of this two legged final, Saints took the lead as the ball rather fortuitously bounced into the path of Seager to slot home, after Sam Lavelle got the ball tangled in his legs.

However, Blackburn levelled on 69 minutes as Bradley Bauress’ cross was diverted into the net by Targett for an own-goal, after the ball bounced into him from team-mate Will Wood.

Gallagher’s absolute scorcher from 20 yards then settled it 94 minutes.