Low's, High's and Low's - A week in the life of a Saints fan, Part 2

August 21st 2010


Following the tragic loss of Mr Liebherr, Saints away match to MK Dons aka Franchise FC was postponed. Thus my next Saints game was at home to Leyton Orient.

Orient are a club who I don’t know a lot about. They are a small team based in North East London and have Barry Hearn as their chairman. They aren’t expected to cause many upsets during the season. So it was with optimism I went down to St Marys.

Before the game a minute’s applause was held for Mr Liebherr, a nice gesture from the club and fans alike. However, my own personal opinion is that a minutes silence would have been more appropriate. Call me old fashioned, but I feel some traditions should be held onto. The game started much like the game against Plymouth the week before. Saints on the front foot. A somewhat lucky goal gave us a deserved lead as the goal machine Lambert strode up to take a free kick, which was deflected in by the hapless Orient defender. My 3-0 bet looked good at this stage. Sure enough typical Saints then threw away the lead with a poor goal to concede from a set piece. Lambert was man enough to admit he lost his player. Fair play Rickie. The rest of the half was a case of Saints having a lot of the ball, but little penetration. Lee “Bernard” Barnard came close to getting off the mark on a couple of occasions and hit the woodwork.

Second half started in similar fashion, with Bernie looking our biggest threat. Orient looked to play on the break and it seemed the tag of promotion favourites may be unjustified following our inability to break down a stubborn defence. Bernie hit the woodwork again during the second period. Saints lacked a creative spark, Puncheon who was bought to provide chances to our front men was having a nightmare, no final ball and a lack of hunger seemed to sum up his day. Orient held on for the draw and celebrated like they had gone home with all 3 points.

During the second half following one of my many tirades at our keeper Kelvin Davis, a JLC (Jonnie Come Lately) questioned my opinion. Now I have always been one to state my own views but I found it difficult to comprehend that a JLC had the right to question my views. As someone who has been a season ticket holder for countless years, I feel I am entitled to my opinion and if people don’t agree with it fair enough. But I will not stand for some plastic fan to question me. This is one of my pet hates about the beautiful game!



August 24th 2010

Saints had a tricky League Cup game at home to Premiership Bolton. Before the game I was predicting a defeat and stated that an honourable performance would be the least I would accept. So off to St Marys I went with my brother. Sat in the Kingsland stand, ready to watch my heroes.

Despite Bolton stating they would play a weakened side, they still fielded a team with several internationals and included Saints old boy Kevin Davies. Saints started the brighter and Lallana was involved in all our attacking play. Yet again it was the same old story as we dominated a team two divisions above us, but failed to make our advantage count. Bolton took the lead on the 30 minute mark as Klasnic the Croatian international stabbed home from close range following a Davies knock down. I thought Davies had committed a foul in the box, but it is the referee’s opinion that counts. Even with the slender lead Bolton were still under pressure from Saints with Puncheon, Barnard and Lallana all linking up well.

Second half was even more one sided as Saints kept knocking at the Bolton door without breaching their goal. At the back, Aaron Martin and Jose Fonte kept Bolton’s talented strike force quiet, with Martin having a very impressive second half. The Bolton keeper was forced into a couple of decent saves late, but with no success for the Saints. Special mention to Jason Puncheon, who had his best game in the red and white shirt. He was a threat and even put in the odd tackle!

Saints now have a tricky run of fixtures coming up, but if we play like we did in this game I have no doubt our form will pick up and the points will become a sheer formality.

The transfer deadline is upon us soon and with the premiership spending the big money; it will be an interesting time to see if anymore new faces will join our new Brazilian signing Guly at the home of football, St Marys.

A big thank you to all those that have been able to read this and if you have any comments, good or bad please get in touch.

I would like to mention my close friends and family who have enjoyed my footballing education with me and sometimes even helped me stay calm! So a huge thank you to My dad, My brother Vish, Oldest friends Jamie and Geoff, Brendan, Joe, Dave, Pete, Dan, John and Vik.



All the best



Neel