Tonda Eckert admits Leicester City inspiration helped Saints beat Derby County

Tonda Eckert has admitted that February’s 4-3 Championship win over Leicester City helped inspire Southampton to beat Derby County 2-1 at home.

Southampton have rarely been put to come from behind throughout the 17 game unbeaten streak. That’s why the Derby County 2-1 win was a different evening to what the St. Mary’s has experienced under current boss Tonda Eckert.

Before the kickoff, Southampton knew that their 2026 form will be enough to grab a playoffs spot at the bare minimum. Multiple top 6 sitting clubs are falling off at the moment, and nobody in the Championship has won five out of five previous games like the Saints.

Hence, a draw against Derby County would not have concerned even the most reactionary Southampton fans out there. Actually, Southampton still found a way to win.

Southampton 2-1 Derby County: Match Report

The Saints went down 1-0 before the break to a weak Derby County attack that just took their moment well through Carlton Morris and made it count. Southampton, on the other hand, created too many scoring opportunities but the finishing left a lot to be desired.

Then, up stepped fan favourite Leo Scienza and curved a bottom corner strike to level it at 1-1 from a narrow angle. Moments later, Ryan Manning and Taylor Harwood-Bellis combined on the free-kick for the latter to grab the 2-1 go ahead goal. The Saints held their nerves at the back and saw off another Championship win.

And a quite morale boosting one, to be honest. Almost all Southampton fans presumed the goal wasn’t on the cards until the team scored twice out of nowhere.

Leicester City comeback inspired 2-1 Derby County win

A lot of credit must go to how Tonda Eckert and co responded after a rare 1-0 deficit early on. Following the full-time whistle, Tonda Eckert admitted the 4-3 Leicester City win from February had a hand in inspiring the Derby County turnaround.

In his own words, the Daily Echo quoted Tonda Eckert saying: “Yeah, there was not too much to say. It was the same thing against Leicester; sometimes you just need to show that you’re ready.”

In other words, Tonda basically told the Southampton players to keep faith in themselves. It was quite easy to feel hard done by a 1-0 half-time deficit after doing enough attacking work up front. However, approaching the second half with a fresh mindset helps which is exactly what the Saints did.

Southampton prepared themselves to play the next 45 minutes aiming to score two goals, without looking much at the scorecard. That worked. Leo Scienza drilled a curling shot in around the hour mark and then, Harwood-Bellis trusted his heading instinct to beat Derby County keeper Richard O’Donnell.

What next for Southampton and Tonda Eckert?

April has no breaks for Southampton thanks to an FA Cup semi-final and the Championship promotion push. After Derby County, the Saints will entertain Blackburn Rovers at St. Mary’s.

Similar to Derby County, Blackburn Rovers also claimed points from Southampton in the previous league meeting. That was a painful 2-1 defeat to be honest, and the second last game of the Will Still era.

A convincing win will act as a good Championship revenge over Blackburn Rovers and will again show how far Southampton have come after sacking Will Still in November. Tonda Eckert’s men are also eyeing an automatic promotion spot. Let’s see how that goes.