I remember you Roger...That Friday night kick off last week meant that it felt like ages between matches for the mighty Saints. We have just had a 7 days break having had about 5 matches in the previous 7 days… I may be exaggerating a bit here but you catch my drift. We’re at Oldham today and unless they’ve completely redeveloped the ground and imported a new tropical climate, then it’s a dump. I, like many Saints fans of my age can only think of Oldham in terms of Roger ‘F*cking’Milford and Andy ‘F*cking’ Ritchie (coincidental middle name sharing that). The 2-0 defeat in the FA Cup all those years ago on that lump of plastic was my one and only visit to the place.
The team news was as you were with David Connolly, despite making a scoring debut for the reserves in midweek, being on the bench again as we stuck to the 4-3-3 formation which had been doing so well recently. Jacob Mellis returned from England U13 duty and took the place of Saganowski on the bench.
Spare a thought for dear old Marek who scored in the Champions League less than a year ago, then got relegated with us, then wanted to leave because he was frightened of losing his international career, then watched as a non-playing squad member as Poland finished 5th out of 6 teams, then is not deemed good enough for a place on the bench for a team who are bottom of League 1. The next reserves match could well be somewhere like Lewes or Eastbourne….TAXI!!!
So, tough game in store as Oldham are unbeated in 6 but five minutes in and we have a corner. Up until recently, Saints corners were like uncontested drop-balls in that they were simply a device for us to give the ball back to the opposition… but we seem to have hit a bit of form with them. James with the corner, Hammond with the header, 1-0 to us and we’re off and running again. I never could understand why we took such consistently bad corners but someone has obviously got hold of Lloyd and pointed out to him that with Lambert, Hammond, Jaidi, Trotman, Wotton etc in the side, we have a veritable Land of the Giants to aim at.
I manage to catch a bit of Radio Solent commentary… honestly, I could do better. I want them to record a jingle that says something like “Radio Solent commentary, it’s as good as being there”. In case you’re wondering where ‘there’ is… it may as well be the sodding Moon for all the complete cack they come out with. Just tell me who’s got the ball, even which team has it….
Anyway, I’m diverted away doing something meaningless when a text tells me that on 27 minutes, it’s 2-0 with Lambert scoring direct from a free-kick from 30 yards. I’m imagining a net buster and I’m sure that’s what Rickie intended but apparently it’s low bobbly effort that the keeper makes a complete Fahim of. I’m looking forward to seeing that on the TV. There is nothing funnier than watching a keeper gift your side a goal.
I catch the half time on Solent where they seem more interested in Aldershot and Jason Dodd. I eventually get to hear of Lambert trying a shot from half way to Manchester, which hit the bar. Good stuff. In the spirit of the Southend game, I’m expecting us to close this out comfortably in the 2nd half.
It’s a shock to the system to see that Oldham pulled one back on 70 minutes through Pawel Abbott, who Trotman had identified as a threat before the game and despite my new confidence in our ability to hold a lead, the nightmares of the recent past descend on me all at once. Danny Higginbotham heading an own goal is all I can think of as the game drifts on. I’m hearing that Pards is bringing on Connolly to replace Schneiderlin, meaning that we must have gone 4-4-2. I work this out for myself while the commentators on Solent are trying to work out how many sugars to have in their tea. Connolly, 3-1, game over. It must be brilliant as a manager when you make a substitution and change the formation and the sub scores within a minute. If it was me, I’d be looking at everyone asking ‘who’s the Daddy?’
So, another away win, two away wins in a row, 4 wins in a row in all competitions, 3 wins in the league….and WE'RE NOT BOTTOM ANY-MOOOOOOOOOOOORE, WE'RE NOT BOTTOM ANYMORE. To celebrate, here’s a league table….
19th Brighton 13
20th Exeter 13
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21st Carlisle 11
22nd Tranmere 10
23rd SOUTHAMPTON 8
24th Wycombe 7
Next stop, out of the relegation zone …
By the way, well done Harry Redknapp !!!
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