It's just like watching.... this lot!
I was going to struggle to keep tabs on this game, seeing as I was in France and having the usual family holiday fun of swimming and sorting out arguments… arguments that would only intensify if the man of the house nips indoors to listen to Saints Player on the web every couple of minutes.
The team reverted to the one that played against Leeds except that Dan Seaborne picked ahead of Aaron Martin. He had somehow won the shirt back after a shit house of a performance against a League 2 side on Tuesday night but in Nigel we trust.…Aaron must have been shite in training this week. We have signed another left back to go with the two we already have but Danny Fox wasn’t considered for this game and so Dan Harding kept his place.
Despite being the newly promoted side in our first away game, Saints tore into Barnsley from the off with the Barnsley players being reluctant to pass to eachother, either picking out a player in a Brazil kit, or often a touchline. We really should have taken the lead on 10 minutes as Frazer Richardson got forward and swung over a peach of a cross to Sir Rickie at the back stick who rose above the defender and thumped a header over the bar.
It was all Saints still though and though the breakthrough was deserved, when it came it had a touch of farce about it. Cork fed Lallana who cut back and crossed into the box where a Barnsley defender headed away weakly with the keeper flapping around like a budgie. Another defender headed it up in the air, Sir Rickie piled in and headed it back across to where David Connolly met it at the back post with a header and managed to squeeze it in at the near post, straight through the flapper and a defender on the line. How the fuck did that go in and who cares.
Another goal and Barnsley would have folded but the closest we got before half time was an ambitious 40 yarder from Connolly which was comfortably saved by Flapper in the Barnsley goal. Half time and a slightly surprising comfort about the proceeding which surely wouldn’t last.
Barnsley started the second half ok but it was still all Saints as far as chances were concerned with Lallana feeding Connolly who croseed for the Gulyman to rise and head onto the ground and see it bounce over the bar. All the training manuals say ‘head it into the ground’ but that’s twice in two weeks that we’ve seen a bouncing header go over the bar.
It all goes a bit Brazil as Guly gets the ball, resplendent in his Brazil kit and curls one just over the bar from the left hand edge of the box. Barnsley need something to change and so they sent on Ricardo Vaz Te who has a stupid name but I remember him from his Bolton days when we were in the Prem and this boy can play.
Connolly has done his bit and is replaced by Steve de Ridder and he immediately twisted himself into a space and freed Lallana with a delightful reverse pass only for Adam to produce a Sunday League wrong foot finish and shank a left footed effort wide of the post when any decent contact would have brought a second goal.
Chaplow had come on for the Gulyman in a predictable effort to shut the game down but he inadvertently opened it up by clearing a ball and coming down on a Barnsley player with his follow through. The referee looked very eager to pull out the red card but when you look again, it’s easy to see why. Chappers clears it and whilst in the air, seems to straighten his leg and go for the oncoming player. When it looks like that and the fouled player ends up with a set of 6 in his bollocks then there’s only one likely outcome.
Schneiderlin comes on for Lallana in a further effort to shut things down and we still have a great chance to put the game to bed with Hammond having a shot saved by the keeper. The inevitable pressure came our way as Barnsley mustered their first shot which Davis managed to tip past the near post. Every time he saves one of those – we should be grateful.
The aforementioned crazily named Vaz Te had a great chance to equalize with the last kick as there was an almighty bundle in our box with the ball pinging about and first Seaborne and then Richardson denying Barnsley what would have been a totally undeserved equalizer. Superkelv managed to get himself a kick in the head as well but we held on to record our first away win of the season.
Personally I think this is a huge win. It proves that we can go away from home and put on a performance and win a game relatively comfortably. The only grumble is that we should really have put his to bed with a second goal, way before the final whistle. It was nice for David Connolly to get another goal and nice to read all the Barnsley fans bigging us up whilst blasting their own teams inability to get at us. Love it!!!
It’s only important at this stage because it’s us but on Saturday night we were top of the league on goal difference with Derby and Brighton also having two wins from two. Brighton won at Fratton Park with the Skates missing a last minute penalty – oh how we laughed. As it was not possible for both teams to lose, that’ll do. By Sunday night we had dropped to second with Cardiff going above us on alphabetical order. To my mind, we should be above them because at least we’re English.
Next up is a Tuesday night visit to the King of Porn at Ipswich Town. It’s great that Paul Jewell has got a job now as we don’t have to suffer him being a pundit. As pundits go, he makes Dave Merrington look like a genius. For the team it’s a big test against a side who have signed some decent experienced players in the summer including that nice man Lee Bowyer. I’d take a point now but lets go out there and try and keep the winning run going.
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