Southampton: New promotion motivation pinpointed after Tuesday night development | OneFootball

Will Smallbone believes that the season-ending injury that goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu has suffered will add "fuel to the fire" of Southampton's promotion push.

The Irish shot-stopper had to pull out of Tuesday night's match against Preston North End after picking up a concerning injury in the warm-up. Alex McCarthy stepped in for him, and kept a clean sheet in the 3-0 victory at St Mary's Stadium.

It was later revealed that the former Manchester City man had suffered an Achilles injury which is going to keep him out for the rest of the season, as per the Daily Echo.

The Saints' manager, Russell Martin, said after the match: "[Bazunu] has felt something in his Achilles and he'll get a scan tomorrow. I'm sure by the time I speak to you on Friday, we'll know the extent of it.

"But I don't expect to see Gavin any time soon at all. I am devastated for him, but we'll support him in the best possible way because it's the way this club is.

"We have brilliant people here. He'll get all the support he needs and we really hope for good news, but probably fearing and expecting bad news."

His compatriot and club teammate, Smallbone, is looking to try and turn this bad situation into a positive one.

Will Smallbone believes Bazunu injury will spur Southampton on

The midfielder believes that the season-ending injury that the 22-year-old keeper suffered should give his team extra motivation to go on and win promotion for him.

"Nobody likes to see anybody get injured," said the 24-year-old, via the Echo. "I am very disappointed for him. Hopefully, it won’t be too long of an injury and he will be back as soon as possible.

"He has been so good for us this season but he is potentially going to have to miss them. We will try our best to get over the line for him. It will only add fuel to the fire.

"Nobody would wish an injury on him but it gives us another incentive to make sure we get over the line. It’s always been our goal to do it for the fans and everyone in here. For Gav, we want to make sure we do it for him."

Bazunu injury could be a blessing and a curse for Southampton

To play the way that Martin wants his teams to play, they need to have a goalkeeper who is confident with the ball at his feet. Bazunu certainly is that. But, in fairness to McCarthy, although he may not be the first person you think of when it comes to this attribute, he coped well enough on Tuesday night.

The Southampton boss heaped a lot of praise on the former first choice keeper for his performance against Preston, and his professionalism, despite the lack of games that he has been involved in. It remains to be seen whether he, or Joe Lumley, will be the starter for the remainder of the season.

As much as it is sad that Bazunu has suffered such a bad injury, there are drawbacks to his game.

Post-shot expected goals (PSxG) is a stat that measures how likely a keeper is to save a shot. When you take that total number for the season, and minus the number of goals a keeper has conceded (GA), it gives you a stat which measures how good said keeper has been at saving shots (PSxG - GA).

This season, Bazunu has been by far the worst shot-stopper out of the starting goalkeepers in the top four.

These numbers suggest that the Irishman should have kept out 12 more goals than he has this season. So, Southampton may have lost their best ball-playing shot-stopper, but they will probably have a keeper who is better at stopping shots; quite what that means for Martin's side and their style, though, remains to be seen.