Three goals in the first 25 minutes have seen Southampton take a commanding 3-0 lead in their League Cup third-round tie against MK Dons at Stadium MK.

Southampton made five changes for the tie and one of those paid dividends after just five minutes when Jay Rodriguez, brought into the attack, curled the first shot of the game past David Martin off the post to open the scoring.

Cedric Soares curled over from Shane Long's pull-back as Saints continued to threaten in the early stages, and they doubled their lead with just 10 minutes on the clock when Sadio Mane beat a defender and coolly chipped Martin after going one on one with the goalkeeper.

Maarten Stekelenburg had to keep out a fierce Carl Baker drive as Dons looked to recover from their poor start, but the visitors extended their advantage further on 25 minutes when Long beat the offside trap to square for Mane to slot home.

Martin prevented Juanmi from making things worse for the Championship side minutes later with a good reaction save, and Rodriguez fired wide as Southampton continued to threaten right up until the half-time whistle.