Southampton have been eliminated from the Europa League courtesy of a 1-1 draw with Hapoel Be'er Sheva at St Mary's this evening.
The hosts went into the match knowing that a win or a goalless draw would send them through to the last 32, but after falling behind their late comeback came up just short as the Israeli champions took second place in Group K by virtue of their head-to-head record.
Southampton knew that a seventh clean sheet in their last 10 home outings would be enough to progress, but they were on the front foot early on and drew the first save from Dudu Goresh after less than two minutes when Charlie Austin nodded a Nathan Redmond corner straight at the visiting keeper.
That did not prove to be a sign of things to come in terms of chances, though, and both sides looked tentative as the first half wore on.
Be'er Sheva, whose first Europa League group stage had already been lit up with famous wins home and away against Inter Milan, created arguably the best chance of the first half when a cross from the left went all the way through to Maor Buzaglo at the back post, but he lacked composure and lifted his finish over the crossbar.
For the most part, though, the visitors focused on stifling their hosts, and Southampton's best opportunity to create a clear-cut chance in the opening 45 minutes was wasted by Redmond when he turned down the chance to find Oriol Romeu on the counter-attack, before his eventual delivery was too high for the midfielder.
Redmond went for goal himself with just under 10 minutes remaining in the half when he found a rare bit of space around 25 yards out, but his curling effort was at a nice height for Goresh, who turned the ball behind.
Austin rose highest at the back post from the resulting delivery, but a heavy landing appeared to result in a dislocated shoulder and the striker was forced off early to be replaced by Shane Long.
The Saints did have one more effort on target before half time when Redmond's free kick brought a save from Goresh, but ultimately they went into the break frustrated following a lacklustre first half.
The opening stages of the second half provided an early warning of just how tenuous their advantage in the group was when the ball broke kindly to Ben Sahar - back on the south coast having spent time on loan at Southampton's fierce rivals Portsmouth during a three-year spell with Chelsea - only for Maya Yoshida to make an important block.
Southampton finally created a clear chance with a little over 20 minutes remaining when Virgil van Dijk rose in front of the keeper to get his head to a corner, only to glance the ball wide of the target from close range.
Even a goal for Southampton would not have changed the visitors' objective of scoring, though, and Be'er Sheva achieved that in the 79th minute when Romeu gave the ball away in a dangerous position and was duly punished by Buzaglo, who picked out the bottom corner with aplomb from just outside the area.
The opener left Southampton needing two goals in 11 minutes to progress, but Yoshida missed a fine chance to pull one back in the final minute of normal time when he planted his header straight at the keeper.
There was to be a late glimmer of hope for the hosts, though, and it came via the other centre-back when Van Dijk collected the ball in the area before passing a deflected shot past the keeper in the first of three minutes' stoppage time.
A previously dull affair had suddenly burst into life during the latter stages, and the Saints were inches away from completing a memorable late comeback when Yoshida glanced a header narrowly wide in the dying stages.
Ultimately, though, it was Be'er Sheva who were celebrating a historic passage into the last 32 at the final whistle despite also being denied the honour of becoming the first Israeli side to win a match on English soil.
Southampton, meanwhile, were left rueing their earlier lack of ambition as they were forced to settle for a third-place finish in Group K by virtue of scoring fewer goals in their away game against Be'er Sheva than the Israeli champions managed at St Mary's.
Barney Corkhill
