CALUM McFarlane was "delighted" to see Saints under-21s bounce back to beat Leicester 5-3 in the Premier League 2 play-offs after a near collapse on Sunday.

Saints, holding a 3-0 lead, were 10 minutes away from booking their spot in the quarter-finals before Leicester flipped the script with three goals in five minutes.

They could have faltered, but instead they regained control of the tie at St Mary's with an early extra-time goal through Joachim Kayi Sanda.

The French defender rose highest to meet Cam Bragg's corner, and captain Bragg sealed progression with a penalty on 113 minutes.

"I'm delighted. When it goes like that, the game changes, you never know what can happen," McFarlane told the Daily Echo.

"They've got their tails up, and we probably needed to get out of our own heads a little bit after what had happened over the last 10 minutes.

"That was the message after 90 minutes. We told them they had to find something within themselves now, a bit of character, mentality, all the buzzwords that people say. 

"And I thought they showed that. They dusted themselves off. We scored another well-worked set-piece goal to get ourselves back in front.

"Then we never looked like letting that lead go again. All credit to the lads, really. We would have taken the win in any way possible."

Larios missed out through precaution after suffering illness in the week and is expected to be available for Thursday's PL Cup semi-final against Brentford B.

Nico Lawrence is also available for the remainder of the under-21s season after his loan at MK Dons came to an end.

Saints bounced back from a Leicester City comeback.Saints bounced back from a Leicester City comeback. (Image: Southampton FC/Craig Hobbs) "Juan was ill last week, so he missed a large chunk of the week. He would have been okay to play, but maybe only 45 minutes," McFarlane explained.

"With his injury history, we decided not to force that chance in this game. We have saved him, wrapped him up a little bit to keep him ready for Thursday.

"Nico is here now with the under-21s. He's a great player to bring in, and it's great for the lads to learn from someone like Nico. 

"He's had a few loans, been in and around the senior game at a good level. He's a really good player and a good influence for some of the younger lads to learn around."

The under-21s are unlikely to spend a lot of time working on the training pitch ahead of facing Brentford due to Sunday's game heading to extra time.

With the play-off quarter-final against either Nottingham Forest or Fulham provisionally scheduled for Monday, McFarlane admitted the players need to be protected.

"We need to wrap them in cotton wool for the rest of the week and make sure we get information around Brentford for them," he concluded. 

"We won't be able to do those on the training pitch. It's just about getting the recovery right, getting the prep right and getting the information right.

"That's the life of a footballer, right? If they're going to go and play in the Football League, there are loads of Saturday-Tuesdays, loads of quick turnarounds.

"You have to play a lot of high-pressure games. We'll learn a lot about their resilience and their mentality after this next week."