19th March - 16th April 2011
Saints started a very busy period with the televised visit of Sheffield Wednesday, another club who should be higher up the leagues. The sky camera's came to St. Mary's hoping to see an upset. High flying Saints started brightly with Rickie Lambert testing the keeper with an early free kick. Saints were playing some flowing football with the creative heartbeat Lallana involved in most of our attacking play. Wednesday barely threatened and made it to half time all square. The deadlock was finally broken early in the second half as Jose Fonte powered home a header from a well worked corner routine. The goal seemed to settle the crowd and saints went on to play some more good stuff. The partnership up front between Bernie and Lambert was blossoming and they combined on 65 minutes for Lambert to convert on the half volley to wrap the points up for the Saints. This made it 4 wins from 4 and the promotion charge was well and truly on.
Next up was a midweek trip to an out of sorts Charlton. This was one of our games in hand on our rivals and will have a major impact on where we finish. Saints were again on the front foot early but seemed to lack a little bit of fitness on a tough night. Things became even tougher during the first half as Lallana and then Chamberlain were both forced off with injuries. Chamberlain seemed to have a serious ankle injury, hopefully this will not be the last time we see the young talent in a Saints shirt! Guly and N'guessan were bought on to play wide and hopefully provide the fire power for our in form strikers. Again the first half ended goalless. Saints pressed hard in the second half and the travelling 3000 supporters were rewarded on 63 minutes as Radhi Jaidi scored following yet another set piece. But as we all know a 1-0 lead away from home is never safe if you're a Saint. As we pushed for a second goal, Charlton hit us on the break and ex Saint Bradley Wright Phillips did what he never did much for us and coolly finished to square up the game. Saints still believed and had a perfectly good goal by N'guessan disallowed for offside. A point away from home at a ground where we haven't got the best of records was a result I would have taken before kick off. As Nigel would say, we move on to the next game.
With our away game at Plymouth being called off due to international commitments, MK Dons were our next opponents at St Mary's. Saints were forced into a change with Guly starting at the top of a diamond in place of the injured Chamberlain. MK came with a good game plan and forced Saints into plenty of uncharacteristic mistakes. Saints paid for the poor start when MacKenzie rose unchallenged in the six yard box to head MK into the lead. Yet another goal which could have been avoided if Kelvis had come off his line! MK then silenced St Mary's with another goal on 55 minutes, Baldock broke into the box and beat Kelvis at his near post. Serious questions need to be asked about our keeper. I think its a season too far for him and I hope we can find a better replacement this summer. 2-0 down and Nigel Adkins had to earn his money. He introduced the pacey Forte in place of an out of form Chaplow. What a sub this proved to be as Forte tapped home with his first touch and then took the roof off St Mary's a minute later with another close range finish. By this time Saints were rampant and could smell victory. Lee Barnard who had worked his socks off, finally got his reward as he drilled home the winner with 15 minutes remaining. As someone who has watched Saints for many years, these sort of comebacks never work in our favour. We are usually on the other end of a game like this. The players seem to have a stronger mental attitude than teams before them. Maybe a sign that we will get promoted?
Following the euphoria of the comeback victory against MK, Saints had yet another midweek game against Charlton. From the moment Guly gave Saints the lead on 10 minutes, the result was never in doubt. Charlton were a poor team who lacked any sort of confidence. Saints had probably the most comfortable home victory of the season. Kelvis was barely troubled and the returning Ryan Dickson was causing all sorts of problems for Charlton with his foraging runs down the left. Bernie added to his tally with another well taken goal as Saints showed tremendous professionalism to see out the remaining minutes. Special mention to Radhi Jaidi who showed his class with yet another dominant performance keeping the divisions leading scorer in his pocket.
Saints marched on to Leyton Orient hoping to collect yet another 3 points. This was a game that was a must win and would take us into second place in the league. Over 3500 Saints fans made the trip to the Match room stadium in East London. Orient tried to play dirty by having one of the most knobbly pitches I have seen in a while. But such is the steely determination of this current squad that it didn't really effect our play. Orient had two first half goals rightly disallowed for offside, Saints were trying to play the football and Dickson created the first goal with a lovely cross for Lambert to powerfully head in at the near post. A 1-0 lead at half time was just what we deserved and kept the fans at ease. Orient were a different side second half, as per past history, Russell Slade instructed his team to go even more long ball. Fonte and Jaidi at the back were immense and won header after header. As the home started exerting more pressure, Adkins used his excellent tactical skills to nullify the threat. He introduced Seaborne and Martin to play at full backs. This meant we had 4 centre halves to deal with the Orient long balls. We wrapped up the match when Lambert cleverly found Bernie in the box to smash home and confirm all 3 points for the red army.
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| Pre match Warm Ups |
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| Sunshine at Orient |
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| Saints fans fill the away end! |
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| One of the many Pillars at Orient |
Yet another game in hand was next up with a very tough midweek trip to Rochdale. Saints went with the diamond midfield again. We were outplayed first half and went in 2-0 down at half time. Both goals were poor from a defensive point of view. Kelvis again at fault, firstly allowing a looping header to go past him then for the fifth time this season he was beaten at his near post. How many more points will he cost us? We have a very able deputy sat on the bench. Nigel, time to drop Kelvis....Please! We improved second half with the switch to a flat four in midfield and the introduction of Lallana who was unlucky when hitting the post late on.
Saints completed yet another busy week with the visit of relegation threatened Bristol Rovers to St Mary's. Most Saints fans including myself felt this would be an easy victory. How wrong was I? Rovers came with a game plan and boy did they stick to it!
Saints had all the possession early on as Guly combined with Lambert to create some good openings. But Rovers stood firm, the keeper made a great save on the line to deny Guly then got lucky as a good downward header from Forte bounced off the post and away to safety. Saints had Stephens and Hammond in midfield and they proved to be ineffective. They both seemed to play in the same areas and Stephens lacked any responsibility as he only looked for the Jim Magilton sideways pass! Jaidi was forced off after half an hour with what seemed to be a niggle. This looked like another game where the most patient team would prosper.
The second half started with Rovers wasting time and trying to make the game scrappy. Their cause was helped by yet another group of inept officials sent by the football league. The ref seemed to have his yellow card out before a foul was committed and made some ridiculous decisions. We also had the pleasure of seeing a female assistant referee. Now people may say this next comment is sexist, but there is no room for a poor official in the professional game. Go ref on the Women's league! Forte continued to cause a few issues with his pace, but injuries were the main concern. Forte, Lambert and Barnard were all victims of heavy tackles. This took its toll and just as it appeared Lambert would be coming off, Bernie attacked a cross in the box and fell awkwardly. He was stretchered off. A worrying sign for Saints fans as Bernie has been in great form lately, he was replaced by the injury prone Connolly. DC is a fans favourite and his introduction seemed to spark Saints as his clever build up play allowed Guly and Lambert to work in more dangerous positions. Finally to the relief of the whole city Guly combined with DC and finished well from inside the box. The relief was evident to see among the players and they finished the game well. Another 3 points for the boys and Brighton to come next week.
On the subject of Brighton, I would like to offer my congratulations to them for winning the league. The have been the most consistent side and I hope to be going to their new stadium next season, hopefully with the Saints!
We now have a pivotal period until the end of the season. 5 games remaining, 4 wins assures promotion. Fingers crossed! We have a few injuries at the moment but with more encouraging news about Morgan and others I'm sure we can achieve our aim of promotion.
Keep the faith folks and keep supporting the team!
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. Email – modha79@gmail.com
Special thanks to my very good friend Alan who is helping spread the word by advertising this blog on his own website. Please visit http://www.bellsofhythe.co.uk/ for all your outdoor sports needs!
All the best
Neel
