League 1 Match 26 - Exeter 1 Southampton 2

Exeter Travel Club waits to take fans home

Since the Man Utd game, the transfer window has slammed shut, smashed the window to bits and left shattered glass all over Michel Platini and his ideas of everyone being financially prudent. It’s insane... and we’re not part of it, with just an undisclosed outlay to bring Jonathan Forte in from Scunthorpe. Scunny fans don’t rate him but then the Preston fans didn’t rate Chaplow so I don’t particularly care what they think. I don’t particularly rate Puncheon and he’s out the door on loan to Blackpool in the Prem. Good luck to him and he’ll need it, playing in a struggling side in a higher standard. So – from one player going to a level too high, we come to another as ‘future England keeper’ Tommy Dismal Forecast goes on loan to Eastbourne. Oh yeah, one player went nowhere... Alex Chamberlain so can Don Nicola now sue all the websites that said he’d been sold? Horses head anyone...

Tonight sees a trip to Exeter and it’ll be interesting to see if Paul Tisdale dresses up like Oliver Twist as he did at SMS. Forte was unavailable for this game and so it was just 3 changes from the Man Utd game with Davis and Jaidi coming back in for Bart and Seaborne and Dany N’Guessan starting on the wing in place of The Gulyman who had a knock. Butters and Harding deservedly kept hold of the fullback spots. Talking of Butters – I think he was in the team today because of one incident at the end of the United game which I forgot to mention when Nani took time out from diving about and generally being a wanker and knocked the ball one side of Butters and tried to run round the other. Having none of it, Butters just ran straight at him and hoofed him up in the air. Genius and worth a booking any day.

It’s a lively opening and Saints have a glorious chance to take the lead on 7 minutes when Sir Rickie plays a lovely crossfield ball onto Barney’s head. Barney heds it into the path of the onrushing N’Guessan who really should have done better than to hit the bar with only the keeper to beat. It’s not over though as it rebounds to Barney who from a narrow-ish angle, manages to also hit the bar, which makes a change from him hitting someone, in a bar. Bugger – it’s that early goal thing again.

There are half chances and near misses for both sides as first O’Flynn gets through for Exeter as Jose dozed off and Kelv regains his Super prefix and smothers the shot before Harding hacked clear. Saints turn the screw for a bit and at the centre of it all is N’Guessan who fired a cross shot just wide of the far post before running through and feeding Sir Rickie who hit the side netting.

Just as Saints were establishing some sort of ascendancy, we went behind as a hoof from their keeper was picked up in midfield and lobbed over our defence in front of the clearly offside Sercombe. He took a pace towards the ball and therefore should have been flagged offside – however, Nardiello ran from an onside position and toe poked it past Davis who had come flying out like a tit with no hope of getting there first. As the ball was running towards the empty net, Nardiello diverted his run to run straight into Fonte who was trying to get back. Forget the fact that it’s rolling into the goal and think about the Butters/Nani incident I described earlier. One player diverts his run away from the ball and runs into another. It’s a foul but not today. It’s irrelevant whether Fonte would have got there or not.

For the rest of the first half, Saints are not good and are getting overrun in midfield as Exeter have three central midfielders playing against Chappers and Schneiderlin. It looked like the curse of the shit ground was going to strike again and Exeter’s ground is really shit, resembling the Veracity Ground with a few chairs round it.

Half time comes and goes and I am fully armed with my Saints Player subscription and the Solent commentary feed is coming through loud and clear. Barney is the first to have a dig in the second half, curling a shot just wide of the post with the keeper beaten, obstructed though he was by the ball having to travel round Jaidi before he could see it.

It’s a very open game with chances coming at both ends. Chamberlain nearly fired Arsenal, sorry, Man City, United, Fulham…. Saints!!!! Level but he managed to become the third Saint to hit the bar. Superkelv partially redeems himself for his flying tit moment by pushing an O’Flynn drive around the post before having to deny Sercombe as the ref decides that a full body assault on the admittedly dithering Jaidi, is not a foul.

I was beginning to get mildly irritated at us not scoring and so I left the room for a bit to say goodnight to my kids. Five minutes later I was back in and had managed to miss the equaliser. Dany N’Guessan beat the full back (ex-Skate Duffy) and crossed. The ball ended up with Harding whose shot was blocked back out onto the left wing. N’Guessan tracked back and retrieved the ball before skinning the Skate again and hanging up a superb cross for Sir Rickie to meet with an excellent powerful header at the back stick. In off the bar, 1-1. I love wing play like that, skin the bastard, cross it on the run, bang. Brilliant work from the winger who I was not expecting much from. As an aside, QPR took this moment to score against the Skates. Happy days.

N’Guessan reward is to have a rest and be replaced by Dean Hammond as Saints go a bit tighter in midfield. It seems to work immediately as we start dominating possession. Time ticks on with no real threat from us aside from Chappers forcing a save with a long range effort. Ex-Exeter player Danny Seaborne comes on for Jaidi to a cacophony or booing from two Exeter fans near the microphone.

The Saints Player radio feed commentary from Solent conks out and shows no sign of coming back for a few minutes so I switched to the Exeter commentary from Radio Devon which is brilliant. The commentator is fine but he co-commentator is brilliantly biased towards the home side and sound like he’s a random yokel they’ve just pulled in out of the stand. “Oh noooo”, “Git aht arr penalty area”.... “Git orf moy laaaaaand” ( I may have made the last one up, it’s called poetic licence).

Schneiderlin must be having a poor game as Nigel thinks that Gobern is a better option when we are chasing the win. Bambi comes on and I can hear heads hitting keyboards all over Southampton. “Gobern on, ‘ee be a tall laaaad”.

91 minutes and it all happens. It’s all Saints piling forward and yokel boy is having a heart attack...”no... no, git ahhhht, ‘ammond crosses it.... Nooooooooooo... Laaambert scores and the keeper ‘as to get thaaat”. Once I’ve deciphered that we’ve scored, I manage to punch the ceiling which is lower than I remembered it and it still hurts now. I’ll live. Lee Holmes would be out for a year with this injury but I will survive.

There are 4 minutes to go and I can’t listen to them as Radio Yokel has disappeared as well. I can’t get Solent back either but four minutes later I get I get Radio Yokel back just as the final whistle blows, “Unlucky laaaaads”.

The answer to any question regarding this game is “we won, so who cares” and it’s a good job we did with everyone else winning. I must admit that I was fearing the worst when we got to half time 1-0 down and could see a repeat of the Tranmere game. To win having been one down with 20 minutes to go is a really good effort, even if I did cut my hand when we scored. Dany N’Guessan showed what he’s all about for the 70 minutes he was on for and Sir Rickie did what he does best and stuck two away – now please go on a run and score in the remaining 20 games. It was a welcome return for Dean Hammond as well as he’s really needed in these away games where more often than not, Morgan really struggles to assert himself. Adam Lallana will soon be fit and oh yeah, we’ve still got Chambo.

As well as Radio Devon being a bit of a laugh, have a look at Exeter’s official website report of the game. It’s almost as if a yokel equivalent of me wrote it. They have marvelled at the bumper crowd of a massive 6,370 – no doubt due to the presence of over a thousand Saints fans who they then proceed to have a dig at. Quite amusing really. We won the game because we have a bus and they have an ‘orse and caaaart.

Anyhow, Nigel’s Magic Bus is up and running again…. All aboard, next stop Peterborough.

League 1 Match 21 - Southampton 4 Exeter 0

Look over there... another goal

Happy New Year and a hangover arrives at SMS, having crawled out of bed at 12.30. I had one job to do before I left which was to walk the dog and when I was out, a fellow hardy dog walker noticed my scarf and asked who we were playing today and the only name I could think of was Stella Artois. I didn’t have a clue. A quick check of the internet when I was alone gave me Exeter City as the answer. Well, should beat them anyway….

Arrived at the ground and did the obligatory New year handshake with the people around me whose names I barely know. I thought about offering the hand of New Year friendship to the Chuckle Brothers but decided against it, partly because I didn’t want to be a hypocrite, partly because I didn’t want to engage in conversation, but mostly because they are twats.

To the team and Nigel had decided that Jaidi was to miss this game and play on Monday night at the Daggers and so in came Dan Seaborne to play against his former club. Richardson came in for Butterfield and Hammond was missing thorough illess (Stella Artois inflicted ?) and so Chaplow started alongside Schneiderlin. Barnard and Connolly again had to be content with a place on the bench, from where they would watch The Gulyman play up front. Exeter had Jamie Cureton up front and apparently he always scores against us – however, he is 46 now so maybe we can keep him out. They also had Jake Thomson on the bench who lft us on a free having played a few first team games in Jan Poortvliet’s ‘Total Football My Arse’ regime.

The opening five minutes was quite even with Saints having a chance when Fonte got on the end of a long diagonal cross and headed just wide of the post and then Exeter having a little spell of possession in our half which suggested that they were quite a decent side. However, Exeter didn’t really look like they had a cutting edge and hopefully that would continue.

We had been playing for ten minutes and nothing really of note had happened and a nondescript ball got played forward and Superkelv came out and controlled it outide the box before knocking it to Richardson at right back. A really boring incident but the Whining Chuckle Brother started moaning. Why did ‘ee do thaaaaaaaaaaat ?. I don’t know if it was my hangover or my New Years resolution (‘Take no Prisoners’) but I decided to have a pop with ‘what exactly was wrong with what he did?’. As I suspected, there was no clue and no answer and then a half hearted ‘I expect better’. I explained in a semi-aggressive manner that we were in League 1 and if you want better then go and support someone else. Silence. I’m not proud of myself but it felt good.

Right on cue we scored as a hoof from Seaborne came down on Sir Rickie who was clambered on by the centre half. To his credit, the ref waved play on and Lallana’s pass was deflected into the path of The Gulyman who ran on and beat the keeper with ease for 1-0. I knew he’d score today – so much so that I didn’t put any money on it.

Exeter had an effort from the edge of the box which Davis tipped over as they continued to probe and cause us a few problems in midfield. We just looked much more likely to score when we went forward and Chaplow nearly did as half time approached when he whipped in a cross which nearly caught the keeper out at the near post but unfortunately the bastard recovered to tip it over.
Half time and 1-0 and I felt that one more goal would see this game done and dusted. I have to take a bit of issue here with the half time competition in which a 9 year old girl was up against some bloke to win a signed Lallana shirt on the ‘higher / lower’ shit numbers game. The rules are that a squad number is shown and you have to guess whether the next on is higher or lower. She got No 11 first up which is right in the middle and she got it wrong whereas the bloke got No 2 and therefore won. Not only was that grossly unfair but if that was me, I couldn’t take a prize if I was up against a 9 year old girl – hang your head in shame Sir.

Hopefully the 9 year old would be cheered up by the 2nd half display which started with Lallana teeing up Sir Rickie for a trademark first time shot which was on its way until it was blocked by a bloke who will now be sporting a very sore arse. Ten minutes in and we got the breathing space as an Exeter player fell over and gave us a throw – quick as you like, the ball boy in the turban threw a ball to Richardson who took the throw long to Chamberlain who skipped past the full back before delivering it on a plate to the Gulyman who couldn’t miss. 2-0, game over and well played the multi-ball system and the ball boy in the turban.

Over the next 35 minutes, Saints created about a chance a minute as Exeter continued to try and get back into it, only to leave wide open spaces and about two players at the back. To start with it looked for all the world that The Gulyman was going to complete his hat-trick as he cut inside and beat the keeper, only for someone to get back and clear it off the line. From the resulting corner, the ball was worked to Lallana who whipped in a cross from the left which evaded everyone and nestled in the far corner of the net. I thought it was a cross to start with but having seen it again… maybe he meant it.

Nigel then, showing a crushing lack of sentimentality, took off Guly and replaced him with Lee Barnard and the chances continued to flow as Sir Rickie teed up the substitute, only for him to hoof woefully over the bar. This set the tone for the next tem minutes as rather than putting it in the net, everyone seemed to want to piss about. Lallana tried to chip the keeper when clean through and it hit his foot, Chaplow fired wastefully over, Barnard hit row Z again and then Ryan Dickson (on today before Chamberlain got cramp) chipped the keeper, only for him to scramble back and flap it off for a corner.

The scoreline was made more realistic in the last minute as Dickson headed down to Barnard who cushioned it with his knee, thankfully it didn’t bounce too far and he swivelled and made it four, past three flailing Exeter defenders.

Woo-hoo, we’re up to 2nd. OK, it’s a bit false as we’ve played 5 more home games than away but who cares. Another very confortable home win, achieved by steam-rollering the opposition and making them look very very ordinary indeed. It’s not exaggerating to say that we could have won by 8 or 9 – the fact that we didn’t was largely down to our ‘piss about’ finishing when it was 3-0. On a day when Brighton hit 5, it would have been nice to at least match them but never mind, we can’t be greedy.

Plus points today were obviously The Gulyman with his two goals and it was nice to see Barney get a run out and a goal which proved that he wasn’t out pissing it up over New Year. The central midfield functioned well with Chappers and Schneiderlin operating well as a pair though I would still expect Deano to come back in when he’s finished vomiting. Elsewhere, only Dan Harding was a bit dodgy as he just doesn’t seem to be alert enough and on the rare occasions Exeter attacked down his side, he was beaten far too easily. I’ve noticed that Dan Seaborne is always dodgy for the first 10 minutes and then he improves and this was again the case today.

I wonder if the quietening effect of my mini-rant at the Whiny Chuckle Brother will carry over until the next home game. I really hope so but if not, my New Years Resolution will kick in again so there could be some more fun to be had.

In two days time we have that rarest of things – an away game. The Daggers are 3rd from bottom so I expect us to win and I expect this despite the near certainty of Nigel rotating some players. I’m sure Jaidi will come back for Seaborne and probably Hammond will replace Schneiderlin but what else…. maybe Barnard for Guly, maybe Dickson for Harding. None of these changes weaken us, that’s for sure so bring on another 3 points please….

League 1 Match 28 - Exeter 1 Southampton 1

Pards and Cortese discuss recent away results

It had been a quiet week… we’d actually had a whole week off and there had been little to keep us Saints fans occupied other than the complete comedy from the other end of the M27. It was oh so quiet from St Mary’s with just news of ticket sales and next years shirt not having a sponsor for aesthetic reasons only... to break the slumber. Good times.

The Exeter away game was upon us and Pards had been stressing that the players were only thinking of this game and not the two cup games against the Fake Dons and the Brothel Botherers. It’s a good job the players were on the ball because the fans seem obsessed with the cup games, especially the second one for some reason. Everyone was available for today as James and Lallana returned from injury to replace Wotton and Homes. Papa Waigo, fresh from his match turning performance last week, started instead of Barnard and a debut was given to Jason Puncheon with Antonio dropping to the bench. We started 4-5-1 with Puncheon in the central midfield three.

Personally I had a choice for today – take time out from entertaining my kids and listen to the commentary from Diamond Dave Merrington and the other clown on Solent or entertain the kids and watch the England v Wales Rugby at 5pm. Bearing in mind that a lot of my extended family are from the wrong side of the Severn Bridge, and that I wanted to know what I was talking about when I rang them up to gloat afterwards, I decided with the latter. Of course, I tried to sneak a bit of radio as well…

As the game started it became apparent that while Exeter’s team has moved up two divisions in two seasons, their pitch is still down in the Conference with sideways and dead bounces being the norm. That said, Saints started well with both Lambert and Waigo having shots blocked. The formation changed meanwhile and Puncheon was pushed up front.

In truth, the first half was all Saints with Exeter not managing an attempt on goal and it was no surprise when following a defensive slip, Adam Lallana controlled well and fired us 1-0 in front. This must have been a relief to Lallana whose goalscoring form had mirrored last season when he scored a load in the first few months and then tailed off completely.

Half time arrived 10 minutes later following a Puncheon shot over the bar, with Saints still 1-0 up and it was of course, time for the half time team talk which would have said something along the lines of pushing on and getting a second goal and finishing them off. Take the game to them lads and don’t give them a sniff etc etc. I’m confident it didn’t say anything along the line of ‘give them a goal and make it interesting’ but that’s what we did as Taylor profited from crap defending of a corner as usual to make it 1-1 just 3 minutes after the restart.

Waigo had produced the usual average performance he produces when he starts an away game and he was unsurprisingly replaced with Antonio just after the hour. Surprisingly, Antonio was pushed up front alongside Sir Rickie with Puncheon moving to the right and his 3rd new position of the match. He was on the move again on 80 minutes when following Thomas coming on for James, Otsemobor moved to right wing and Punch ended up in central midfield.

I’m in the car now on my way to watch the rugby. As the radio comes on I hear the stadium announcer gloriously announcing ‘Substitution for Southampton, Lee Barnard replacing Jon Ostembobbybor’. This was followed by an Exeter shot which deflected and clipped the post. Jesus, sounds like we’re hanging on.

Following the near miss at the other end, the game finished with Saints finally applying a bit of late pressure – a couple of corners, a half shout for a penalty and the final action of the game being Danny Seabourne sticking a foot out and looping an effort just over the bar. Final score 1-1, again.

A while ago we were all laughing along at how we ended up with the same result in every away game in much the same as we are now. Only difference is that the previous time, the score was always 3-1 to us and now it’s a bloody 1-1 draw every time with Saints taking the lead every time and then not completing the job. It’s a bad day today and to be honest, I think the playoff dream got another nail in its coffin today. It’s now 15 points and a game in hand for Swindon. In order to make a significant dent in that deficit, we’re going to have to win something like 8 out of the next 10 and we’ve stopped winning away from home.

I still feel that Pards is mixing and matching a bit with the selection with the Cup games coming up. Hopefully when this week is over we’ll still be in the Cups but also, we’ll be able to get to somewhere near a settled side and kick on. I’d certainly like to see Jaidi and Harding back in the side and probably Thomas at right back as well. When Jaidi and Trotman were at centre back, we stopped letting in set piece goals and now we’ve started again. Jaidi is the best header of a ball at the club and should be playing in the league, in every game he is physically able. Also, Dean Hammond is becoming a better and better player with every game he misses through injury.

Anyhow, now it’s the Cup games. First up it’s the Fake Dons and sadly, my seat will be occupied by my Mum as I have to work due to impending unemployment and a need to milk every last cent. It should be a near 30,000 crowd and we should have enough about us to make it through to Wembley. Remember that when you’re feeling pissed off about today’s result.

League 1 Match 23 - Southampton 3 Exeter 1

Will Neal 'the bus' Trotman be wearing this at SMS again ?

Exeter City at home in the traditional Boxing Day fixture where a larger than usual proportion of the crowd were nursing a hangover. Personally, I love the Boxing Day fixture as it gets me out of the house and away from setting up and playing games with my kids who by this stage, have driven me nuts and kicked my ass on whatever game we’ve been playing. Mario Kart… Jesus Christ!!! Anyhow…

Following our defeat last week by Leeds I read that someone with a calculator had decreed that we needed to win 14 out of our remaining 22 matches to have a chance of the playoffs. With our current form, it doesn’t sound too far fetched to imagine us getting that but one of the 14 really had to come today, against an Exeter side who were just about keeping their heads above water in their first season in League 1. You’ve got to admire a side that has won two successive promotions from Blue Square to League 1 and done it playing decent football under the guidance of former Saints reserve-who-never-really-made-it, Paul Tisdale.

In the build-up, Pards had made mention of the Colchester away game in two days time and that some players wouldn’t be able to manage two games in three days. My suspicion that he was talking about Jaidi was confirmed when Trotman lined up alongside Perry in defence. Schneiderlin made a welcome return in midfield in place of Thomas with James going to right back and the interchangeable Waigo and Antonio were interchanged again with Antonio starting.

For the first 10 minutes it’s Exeter with all the pretty football and Saints trying to win the ugly battle and making sure Exeter didn’t get anything early. At the forefront of this effort was Neal Trotman. I have a theory that Trotman may be blind or have some sort of spatial awareness problem because if a forward gets in his way, he just smashes through them. When he gets it right it’s fantastic as he clears the ball and the opposition player is left limping and wondering who threw a bus at him. Bart came for a cross at one point and Trotters predictably ignored him and headed it straight up in the air and we were fortunate that the ball ended up looping wide from the resulting confusion.

On 13 minutes, Saints got the ball down and played for the first time and James got forward from right back and picked up a ball from Antonio and cut in, onto his left foot before hitting a daisy cutter which took a deflection off a back-pedalling defender and settled in the corner of the net where the keeper wasn’t. Ok, a lucky goal but he won’t give a toss as it was his first for the club and we didn’t give a toss either as we were 1-0 up.

Suddenly it looked like there were many goals there for the taking with Exeter looking particularly weak when defending set pieces. From a short corner, James whipped in a good cross for Connolly to steal in front of the keeper and back-header onto the bar and out to a startled looking defender who nearly plonked his header back in his own goal – which would have been hilarious. It was a temporary reprieve for Exeter though as on 26 minutes, from a James free kick on the right, Trotman rose above a very weak flappy challenge from the keeper and thumped in a header for 2-0.

Hammond and Schneiderlin were finally taking control of the midfield area and frustration seemed to get the better of Troy Archibald-Henville-Fortesque-Smyth-Biggles who went in late and high on Schneiderlin and after the ensuing melee which Lallana had no need to get involved in, got shown a staright red. Having watched the incident again, I don’t really think the red was for the tackle but for grabbing Lallana by the throat afterwards. He had to go really but would he have been sent off if Lallana had not got in his face? Anyway, a red card for having a stupid name is a three game ban and Exeter were really looking down the barrel now, or they should have been at least.

Half time , two nil, more please.

The start of the second half was fairly subdued and it took me ten minutes or so to realise that we were just trying to play the game out and nothing much was happening. It took another 10 minutes for me to realise that we aren’t good enough to just play the game out and look forward to the next game in two days time. Lallana was subbed and worryingly disappeared straight down the tunnel. Joseph Mills came onto the left hand side and immediately had a decent run and shot over the bar. The service into Lambert and Connolly was poor though with many crosses from James, Antonio and Mills ending up behind the goal or as catching practice for the keeper.

Lambert, who looked bored throughout the 2nd half, tried his luck with a free kick from so far out it was practically in Ocean Village which predictably went wide. Slumbers were interrupted though when from a corner a Saints defender (couldn’t see who but I suspect Lambert) got caught under the ball and Taylor had a free header at the back stick to make it 2-1. the game was now officially on and it really shouldn’t have been.

Following the Exeter goal it was obvious that we weren’t going to be able to just play the game out and so Pards brought on Wotton and showed his ruthless side by substituting the substitute with Mills making way. I bet Mills was really pissed off and if I’d have been him, I’d have limped off but to me, it just showed that Pards is really unafraid to make the unpopular and difficult decision. Waigo also replaced the largely ineffective Connolly up front.

The changes took immediate effect as Wotton assumed his usual ‘destructive’ role and bagan snapping into tackles in that Neanderthal way of his. The other substitution was more noticeably effective as Saints broke and the ball was poked through by Lambert to Waigo who had managed to stay onside. He cut in from 40 yards out on the left, drew the keeper and slotted it past him and into the corner for 3-1. I never had a seconds doubt that he would score and I really can’t explain that. I can however make a comparison with our offside-ically challenged player of yesteryear, Bradley Wanker-Phillips who used to regularly get himself one on one with the keeper and regularly find new ways to miss. When BWP got through, I never even used to stand up in anticipation because I just knew it wasn’t hitting the onion bag.

As an encore, Waigo produced a comical offside when he looked across the line, saw he was 5 yards off and then made no effort to get back onside before chasing a through ball. I’ll forgive him this one…

With the last move of the match, Lambert hit the bar with a right foot curler before Antonio drilled the rebound straight at the keeper and the referee ended what was an odd sort of match. The upcoming Colchester match had certainly had an effect on this game both with the team selection and the 2nd half lethargy and while Exeter had tried to play some decent stuff, more than us for much of the game, they were a bit lacking up front and at the back and never really threatened to turn it around. I felt like if we’d had to win 4-0 then we could have done. The Exeter fans filed away and returned to their tractors for the drive home – I hope they stay up, I really do as they try and play the right way.

Finally, I have to mention the crowd which at 30,890 is quite staggering for a League 1 fixture. Whilst I don’t expect us to get that many for every match, it would be nice if we could get up to around the 25,000 mark for the rest of what is promising to be quite an exciting second half of the season. It’ll be more exciting than Pompey’s anyway.

And finally, again, I have to mention that this may well be the last home game for Neal Trotman who seems to be returning to his parent club, Preston, on New Years Day. If this comes to pass, it was a nice way for him to finish, scoring in his last game. He's had a lot of decent games for us and has been the butt of many of my jokes so I appreciate his contribution if indeed, that's the end of it. The goal at Southend when he booted the keeper in the net will live long in the memory, as will the own goal at Leyton Orient. Personally, I feel that he would be ok at Championship level, he has a great attitude, infectious enthusiasm and commitment and there is potential for improvement, learning from Jaidi and Perry. As it stands, he would get found out against quicker, more intelligent forwards but we are in League 1 and they are not found below Premiership level. Personally, I think he's worth signing especially with Jaidi and Perry being of pensionable age. Maybe we can take advantage of Preston's financial woes and put in a cheeky bid. The irony of us taking advantage of others financial woes is not lost on me.

If you're reading Neal, which I'm sure you're not, thanks for your performances for the mighty Saints and good luck with whatever comes next...