Southampton development may come as a surprise to Reading FC, Middlesbrough | OneFootball

Joe Lumley made his Premier League debut for Southampton, something that may surprise Reading and Middlesbrough supporters

Supporters of Middlesbrough and Reading could well have had a shock at 7pm on Friday night when they saw the Southampton starting XI to face Brighton in the Premier League.

Their former goalkeeper, Joe Lumley, was selected to start for the Saints, making his Premier League debut at the age of 29, and given his struggles at both Boro and the Royals, they may have been surprised to see him named in the starting XI.

Of course, Lumley isn't a regular starter for Southampton, far from it, and he's arguably the fourth choice this season behind Aaron Ramsdale, Gavin Bazunu and Alex McCarthy, but with an injury crisis meaning the trio were unavailable to start, the 29-year-old was called into action for his top-flight debut.

While some supporters may have been concerned about starting their fourth-choice goalkeeper in an important Premier League game, Lumley performed admirably in testing circumstances, and he now has the honour of having played in the Premier League.

Lumley began his senior career in the Championship with QPR, and he had a number of loan spells at clubs in non-league and the EFL before becoming the Hoops' first choice for the 2018/19 season.

However, it didn't last too long, and he had further loan spells with Gillingham and Doncaster Rovers in 2020, before completing a deal to join Boro in 2021.

Lumley's time at the Riverside Stadium proved to be a miserable one, and while he started the season as first choice, he was dropped for Luke Daniels for the last couple of months of the campaign after some substandard performances, and he was allowed to leave on loan in the summer of 2022.

He joined fellow Championship side Reading, and was part of a Royals side that were relegated to League One, conceding 57 goals in 41 appearances, and while his time at the club got off to a bad start, making a bad mistake in a 4-0 defeat to Rotherham United, he did actually win the club's Players' Player of the Year award.

With his two-year deal at Boro expiring that summer, he was released and left without a club until Russell Martin brought him to the club to be third choice.

It was a surprise that Martin brought Lumley to the club, not least because the pair had a well-documented spat following Reading's win over Swansea City in December 2022, but he looked to be decent cover for Bazunu and McCarthy.

Given the players in front of him, he didn't make an appearance in the Championship for Southampton as they won promotion to the Premier League, making his chances of appearing in the top-flight look slim, but an injury crisis ensured that he can now call himself a Premier League player, something that Boro and Reading supporters wouldn't have expected.

Joe Lumley performed admirably on his Premier League debut

McCarthy, who started for the Saints in their defeat against Liverpool last weekend, was unable to retain his spot in the starting XI thanks to a knee problem, meaning Lumley was thrown in at the deep end at the Amex Stadium.

It was far from an ideal situation to make his Premier League debut, playing for a side bottom of the league in desperate need of points, but he performed admirably, making four saves, having a save percentage of 80% and a 79.5% passing accuracy as per Fotmob, and he didn't look out of place, leaving his manager pleased.

Speaking to the Daily Echo after the game, Martin said: "I'm proud of him. He deserves it.

"He's a brilliant team-mate. Brilliant character. It's not like a charity. He deserved to play tonight. Al was struggling with his knee and Lummers is here. He played so well in the Cup last season.

"So I'm really proud of him tonight. I'm really happy for him."

It remains to be seen if Lumley will play any further games in the top-flight this season, but he's now officially a Premier League player, which may surprise supporters of opposition teams, but it's something that nobody can ever take away from him.