Southampton continued their Championship charge as they thrashed Wrexham 5-1 to replace the Welsh side in the playoff places.

Fuelled by their stunning weekend FA Cup quarter-final triumph over Arsenal, Tonda Eckert’s in-form side flew out of the traps at Stōk Cae Ras with early goals from Kuryu Matsuki and Flynn Downes, having already hit the woodwork twice.

Wrexham pulled one back through Josh Windass but a breakaway strike from Cyle Larin and late goals from Ross Stewart and Finn Azaz secured the visitors’ fifth successive victory in all competitions. The win was also their 10th in an unbeaten sequence of 13 league games, seeing Southampton climb to sixth.

Their intent was evident early on as Larin and Azaz both hit the bar in the eighth minute. Larin was unlucky after meeting Ryan Manning’s cross with a deft header but Azaz should have done better than to plant the rebound against the woodwork.

Azaz quickly made up for that miss as he teed up the opener on 12 minutes by threading a fine ball through to Matsuki, who took a touch before slotting a shot past a wrong-footed Arthur Okonkwo.

Southampton continued to control the game and doubled their...