FA Cup 4th Round Replay - Southampton 2 Millwall 3

The wheels on the bus go......

FA Cup reply time and a chance to play in the glorious weather that we get down South after playing in the frozen wastelands of Birmingham a couple of days ago. There must be about 6000 of our fans who’ve not made it back yet from St.Andrews judging by the sparsely populated ground I find myself in. Either that or it’s an indicator that £18 for an adult ticket is too much – how many would be here if the price was a tenner or even less? Oh yeah, I was joking about the glorious weather of the Beautiful South – it’s absolutely Baltic here.

Nigel has mixed and matched the side but it looks strong – Bart is in goal with the regular back 4 aside from Harding who was in for Foxy who was serving his ban for tackling people fairly. Steeeeve and Adam on the wings with Deano and the returning Chappers in the centre. Sir Rickie was on the bench though so up front we had Guly and Tadanari Lee.

Saints start quite well with de Ridder running directly at the defence before eventually shooting well over. There is appreciation in the ground for the fact that we have at least had a shot. As the game settles down there is a worrying pattern emerging in that we are not getting anywhere near them in midfield and Millwall are just popping the ball about without a care in the world. The play gets closer and close to our goal without us making a challenge or even putting pressure on before it gets laid back to Trotter who sidefoots a lovely finish past Bart from the edge of the box. From a Millwall point of view it’s a great goal – lots of passes and then a good finish. From our point of view it’s a shocker.

With it being a Cup tie and all that, of course I have different people around me n the Kingsland even though I have exactly the same seat. A bloke arrives and plonks himself next to me as the clock ticks over to 20 minutes. “Have I missed much?”, he says. In my head I’m saying “Look at the big fucking scoreboard thing” but I settle for “not from us mate” as Millwall break clean through on our right and the winger should score but he scuffs his shot across Bart and wide of the opposite post.

On the half hour it’s becomes apparent that we’ve changed our shape with Guly playing in the hole and de Ridder and Lee playing up front. Lee is being supplied with a barrage of hoofed rubbish which is difficult to control when it’s two metres over his head. The full backs are now charged with providing width but Frazer’s having a mare and basically just booming the ball randomly forward and Harding is just going sideways to the centre backs.

Out of nowhere, Lallana picks up a Richardson pass with a brilliant bit of control and twists himself free in the penalty area before firing in a shot which deflects past Forde at his near post. We haven’t really deserved it but we’ll take it and suddenly, the confidence is back. Firstly, de Ridder gets to the bye line and cuts the ball back just behind the Man from Japan. Steeeve is at it again straight afterwards as he flights a superb cross onto the head of Guly who thumps it towards the top corner only for Forde to take off and pull off a great save in tipping it away....bastard.

The last significant action of the half is Guly trying his hand at defending and proving that he can’t do it as he trashes a forward on the edge of our box and gets booked. The free kick is wasted, it’s still incredibly fucking cold and it’s half time.

I don’t usually bother leaving my seat at half time but I do today for a couple of reasons. One is because I’m a man and the cold weather means that 90 minutes without a pee is impossible. The other is that I fancy a Bovril but there are just two of the kiosks open for the whole of the Kingsland. The queue tells me that it isn’t going to happen this side of the second half so I give up. It’s a ridiculous underestimation of how many kiosks needed to be opened.

I assume Nigel’s teamtalk at halftime featured raised voices and this as proven after 5 minutes. He must have shouted that “The little Japanese Guy needs the ball passed on the ground” and the ref must have heard through the walls as he intercepted a Millwall pass and set Lee on his way to inside the penalty area before he shot just wide. I bet the ref was delighted that he missed or else he was getting an assist.

Lee is at the centre of most things just now and gets chopped over on the left hand edge of the box. Whilst the big men waited in the middle for a chip, Adam catches everybody out including Forde by smashing the free kick straight against the bar and away. Whilst Saints are now the better side, Millwall look very dangerous every time they come forward and Bart has to get down well to tip Henry’s low drive round the post. Bart then starts and finishes a move by taking a shite goal kick with ends up back with Millwall who work an opportunity for Trotter to fire goalwards on the volley and Bart makes a superb save to his left.

Guly is being a clumsy bastard and having already been booked it was unwise to clatter a Millwall player and it was even more unwise to clatter another one in a clumsy long-legged-can’t-tackle-for-shit kind of way. The order came from the bench for him not to go anywhere near the ball while a sub got warmed up and the next time it went out of play, Sir Rickie was on which left us looking a bit odd on the formation front as he went in the hole behind Lee and Steeeeeve.

Sir Rickie's intorduction sees us create more chances though as Lee can;t quite get hit foot round an opportunity that falls to him courtesy of a lucky bounce.  Just after, the man himself fires just over having been set up by Lee and then Lallana forcing Forde into a sprawling save from distance.  The 'fucking hit it' message from the weekend has clearly got through.  Just to prove that they haven't settled for a draw, Kane brings another fine save out of the Bartman, this time getting a strong right hand to deflect it wide.

I was already of the opinion that the linesman on the Kingsland side was useless when he went and proved it by not flagging when the Millwall left back aimed a retaliatory kick at Chappers after Bald Psycho had steamed into a tackle. The ref was blindside so can be forgiven for missing it but the lino was directly in between me and Chappers so he must have seen it. If not then we have a problem but not as much as the bloke next to me who comes back from getting his half-time burger. I make it that so far, he’s missed 60% of the match, a bit like Jack Cork on Saturday.

Chappers has lasted an hour and been replaced by Ben Reeves who immediately makes me realise how far off the pace Chappers was as he sets about making a huge difference with his energy and passing range. The whole team seems lifted and de Ridder sparks to life again and sets up Lee who fires just over this time.

It now looks like it’s coming soon and Sir Rickie picks up the ball 20 yards out before advancing and smashing in a low drive which possibly took another deflection as it sped past the keeper to put us 2-1 in front.

Following the goal, Steve de Ridder appears to be struggling with his ever-present tight hamstring and sits on his bum giving the universally understood “I’ve had enough, take me off” hand signal. As we were in front and all that, I expected a midfielder to come on but instead of James Ward-Prowse, we surprisingly got Lee Barnard who went up front with Sir Rickie and Lee.

It’s turning into a great cup tie as Millwall flood forward but we have no defensive shape at all with the wings being completely open. When we get the ball in defence we fanny around with it and following some fannying by Fonte, the ball is worked out to our left where Aaron Martin completely over commits and gets done and just like the Leicester game when the same thing happened, the cross is right on the money and Dany N’Guessan rises to plant home the header, no chance for Bart, 2-2.

The prospect of sitting here freezing for another half hour of action is at the forefront of everyone’s mind but hang on, we’re in front again as Reeves drives forward, feeds Barney on the 1-2 and slots it in. Offside according to the useless lino who was making his first actual decision of the 85 minutes gone so far? What? Originally I wrote somethign along the lines of 'how the fuck is that offside' but having reviewed the TV replays, it's actually Barnard who is offside when Reeves plays him the ball. Reeves is onside throughout so the previously useless lino has got that one right.... well, that's how it looks to me anyway.

Neither side wants extra time and everyone is trying to get on with it but the ref is having none of it and makes us go back as Bart has taken a goal kick with a rolling ball. Oh the irony in the 92nd minute when Jose gets penalised for winning the ball fairly and Millwall take a rolling ball free kick before the centre back has chance to get back. That said, there is still a lot to do but Feeney cuts inside Richardson into the Fonte sized gap in the defence and smashes a superb shot into the far side of the net, once more giving Bart no chance at all. A minute later it was all over.

Gutted to be honest. Unlike the Birmingham game which was on Sky, this one which wasn’t was a great game for the neutral. Loads of chances, saves, mistakes and all that good stuff which makes you love the game. Ultimately though I don’t care because we lost and we really shouldn’t have. I was happy to sit through another half an hour plus penalties if needed but the referee obviously wasn’t (here I go again!!!). Letting them take a quick free kick off a moving ball having just stopped our keeper doing the same is the sort of inconsistency that drives everyone mad. Having said that however, Feeney had a lot to do and smashed in an unstoppable shot from miles out so fair play to him. It’s not he ref’s fault we lost though – we were shite with no urgency and no real pattern of play.

Nigel was as angry as I’ve ever heard him after the game, going to town on the defending in particular. There were poor mistakes by individual members of the back 4 but the defending as a team was non-existent today. We were playing the diamond midfield though which when you don’t have the ball, really encourages teams to fly down the unprotected wings and where did the last two goal come from – down the wings. In my opinion we should have gone 4-4-2 with Barnard dropping to the right wing, once we went 2-1 up.

Positives – well Chappers got an hour of football, Ben Reeves was excellent when he came on, Tadanari Lee looked dangerous when we actually got the ball to his feet and Steve de Ridder was direct and a handful when he got moving and all the chances we created in the first half came through him – it’s a worry that he seems to always pull up if he plays longer than an hour though. Overall though, I thought Bart was our man of the match, making a string of decent saves and looking comfortable under all the crosses etc. He had no chance at all with any of the goals. His kicking is incredibly hit of miss though which drives me nuts – what do you practice all week?

In the league tonight, we were (kind of) all Skate fans but they lost to an 86th minute goal at Birmingham, meaning the Brummies are now breathing right down our necks. We have Burnley at home on Saturday and we have to win - it’s as simple as that. Today (Wednesday) I’ve heard that Harry Redknapp has been found not guilty of tax evasion. I have just instructed by work to pay my salary into my Monaco account, Comebackyoubastard68.