League 1 Match 23 - Oldham 0 Southampton 6

Scared shitless !!!

Now it was time for one of those games that last year, we didn’t like. Oop North on a cold night in the rain on a dodgy pitch. The dodgy pitch belonged to Oldham and Boundary Park always brings back bad memories for Saints fans of a certain age. Oldham gave us a decent game at SMS earlier in the season and Paul Dickov, their manager was promising more of the same. He had brought in Saints legend Neal Trotman on loan which will be interesting as the last time he played against us was for a Huddersfield side who we battered 5-0.

Predictably, Saints changed the team around, bringing back some of the players who Nigel felt we didn’t need in order to beat Holloway’s lot. So, back came Davis, Fonte, Jaidi, Dickson, Chaplow, Chamberlain and the Gulyman and out went Bart, Seaborne, Martin, Harding, Hammond through injury, Puncheon through illness and Barnard. The crowd was swelled with the ever annoying presence of Damien Comolli from Liverpool, no doubt checking out promising youngster Radhi Jaidi, to replace those idiots that they’ve got at the back for Liverpool. Also in attendance was old Taggart himself, Sir Alex Ferguson, no doubt checking us out for the Cup game but also checking on the keeper he’s just loaned to Oldham, Ben Amos.

It was all Saints from the off and it took a whole 7 minutes for us to take the lead as Lallana picked out Sir Rickie at the back post. Showing a remarkable unselfishness for a striker, he first barged past a defender and instead of smashing it goalwards from a tight angle he just rolled it into the path of Chamberlain who drilled it home.

Ben Amos, under the watchful gaze of his manager, Sir Taggart of Manchester, must have reminded him of the great Massimo Taibi in the 35th minute when he allowed a Lallana in acres of space, scuffed a left footed effort straight at him which Amos allowed to go through his legs and bobble into the net to make it 2-0. The more you see it, the funnier it gets. Oh dear, not good. Great for us though and heading into half time with a bit of a cushion which we then tried to throw away by allowing some bloke to hit the post with a close range header before a scene reminiscent of a Charlie Chaplin film took place as Richardson smashed a clearance against Jaidi and it rebounded to Fonte who missed it and the ball ended up back with the original Oldham player who then, in a perfect demonstration of crap finishing, stabbed the rebound wide from barely a yard.

We made it to half time with our 2-0 lead intact but predictably, Oldham emerged with a new purpose in the 2nd half. Basically, they had to score the next goal or they were screwed. It’s all Oldham and we’re soaking up a it of pressure but it’s obviously a ploy as Chaplow wins the ball in midfield and ten seconds later, it’s 3-0 as Schneiderlin sends Sir Rickie away down the right and he sets up the Gulyman who produces an excellent first time finish past the Ghost of Taibi.

Just when you’re thinking that it can’t get any better, it does as Lallana pulls out his signature move of cutting in from the left and onto his right foot. As everyone anticipates the curler to the back stick, he just lays it into the path of the onrushing Chappers via a bit of a lucky deflection and the new Chrissy Marsden smashes it first time into the top corner for 4-0. It’s more or less Lallana’s last contribution as he is replaced with Carlton Palmer Gobern. Sir Taggart has had enough of seeing the Ghost of Taibi humiliated and chooses this time to depart, no doubt with images of a Le Tissier daisy-cutter in his mind.

Thinking that the sub was Nigel’s way of closing the game out, we immediately break forward again and Gobern should really have scored but he fell over in a sprawling mass of arms and legs following an air shot. Two minutes later and a bit of pinball and Oscar manages to poke the ball via the keeper to Sir Rickie for him to sidefoot in for 5-0 and the goal he deserved.

Sensing that the game was well and truly won, Nigel saw no need to allow Comolli a longer look at promising youngster Radhi and so he replaced him and Chamberlain with Dan Seaborne and Lee Barnard. There was still time for Sir Rickie to play in the Gulyman whose pass found Barney’s well timed run and he skipped past the Ghost of Taibi to make it 6. I’m sure there was loads of other stuff that went on in the game but with so many goals to talk about, I can’t be arsed.

Well League 1, have some of that then! I don’t subscribe to all this ‘quaking in their boots’ bollocks but it’s the kind of result that does get noticed. To score 6 away from home against anyone is a big deal no matter who you are and who you’re playing against. Oldham had only lost once at home this season and only let in 11 goals at home until Saints turned up. Even that twat Roger Milford couldn’t have added enough time to allow them to equalize this time. I always thought of Oldham as one of the sounder sides defensively and Hazell is one of the best defenders I’ve seen at this level. Maybe it was the Trotman factor.

Nigel was quick to point out that it is only 3 points at the end of the day and that you need to listen, be on the bus, in the building and taking care of business. He’s right of course and we must be wary of ‘after the Lord Mayor’s show’ when we play Whinging Ince and his Notts County mob on Saturday. That goes for the fans too who have to accept that 1-0 on Saturday will do.

Following Hollowaygate at the weekend, it was nice to be ‘having a laugh’ again so soon. I will be having a laugh again tonight if they get battered by Liverpool (sadly they didn’t!!!). Talking of Liverpool... The media today is full of every team in the top 5 and mid-table average teams like Liverpool and Stoke looking to pay £10m for Alex Chamberlain. Where did that figure come from? I guess the figure comes from the fact that Walcott and Bale were around the £10m mark so that’s what the media has guessed at.... but there’s a difference now in that we don’t need the money. In my opinion we should be looking for double that in order to be tempted. So – Liverpool or whoever, give us upwards of £20m or better still, fuck off and spend the money developing your own players.

Oh yeah, Fergie.... be afraid, be very afraid....

League 1 Match 13 - Southampton 2 Oldham 1

D'Urso shows Man Utd who is in charge.

Back on home territory after last weeks away defeat and how would Saints react. I was hoping for a return to the style of football that blew away Tranmere in the last home game but I have a suspicion that no team will be as bad as Tranmere were. Oldham came here last year, parked the bus and got a 0-0, mainly on the back of outstanding defending by Reuben Hazell who snuffed out everything. He’s back again today along with his new manager, Paul Dickov who was known as ‘The Wasp’ when he was a player, simply because ‘The Irritating Annoying Little Shit’ wasn’t utterable until after the 9pm watershed.

It had been a quiet week for Saints with no arrests. All we had was a scare story about Lallana’s contract running out at the end of the season and we all knew that anyway. However, it was nice of the Daily Echo to make all other clubs aware of it and a rumoured £3million bid from Birmingham (probably a club and fee picked out of thin air) immediately did the rounds. Yawn! Perhaps Adam should shag a couple of tarts down Derby Road, call his manager a liar, say his team mates aren’t good enough to match his ambition and then sign a new deal as soon as more money is waved at him. However, I’m confident that Adam is a not a complete wanker like a certain shit ugly England footballer who to my mind, shouldn’t have been negotiating from a position of strength, having not had a decent game in six months.

This weeks player to be subjected to interviews was Jason Puncheon who made the usual noises about being nearly back to his best and talked of the Rochdale game when he got booed a bit. I remember that game – it was when he lashed two sitters so high that they would have hit the gasholders if the stand didn’t have a roof on it.

Saints had a selection issue in that Deano was suspended and so Schneiderlin came back into the team alongside Chaplow, a central midfield pairing that I did not expect great things from. Sir Rickie had recovered enough from his bang on the head to take his place up front, sporting a very fetching lump of plaster on his noggin. The Gulyman was again preferred to Lee ‘want some’ Barnard and the highlight on the bench saw the return of the mercurial Paul Wotton.

Saints started well and were keeping the ball and looking threatening. An early free kick from miles out was hit by Sir Rickie and parried by the keeper who then made an amazing save from Fonte’s follow up effort but the lino had the flag up anyway. It gave us hope that we’d break through soon and we then had the first Punch chance of the day when he twisted in from the right and worked it onto the favourite left foot. Faced with the usual Scuffer/Balloon choice, Punch went for the slightly mis-hit scuffer which beat everyone and bounced back off of the post…. unlucky and he was unlucky again a minute later after nicking the ball high up the pitch and squaring to Schneiderlin, he had to watch Morgan lash it over the bar.

In Oldham’s first attack we got D’Ursoed. Andy D’Urso, former Premiership referee who now is in League 1, famous for allowing Man Utd players to chase him round the pitch. The ball got played into our box to a clearly offside player and the lino did his job and flagged. D’Urso knew best though and waved play on and Superkelv had to produce a decent save whilst everybody stopped. It was only afterwards that I kind of realised that he’d have bloody given it if it had gone in.

The midfield duo of Chaplow and Schneiderlin was looking particularly weak defensively and instead of playing as the attacking midfielder as he had been recently, Morgan was playing the holding role as only Morgan does…. badly. He got wrong-side of Taylor, the Oldham runner from midfield and allowed him to slide a pass through to Furman who evaded a sleeping Harding and poked it across Davis and into the net for a truly abysmal goal from a defensive point of view.

Adam Lallana sparked into life and teed up Sir Rickie on the edge of the box. Last year this would have flown in the net but this is not last year and it flew over the bar. Following this miss it all went to shit for about 20 minutes with only the Gulyman providing any highlights, narrowly firing wide a couple of times and generally being a pain for the defenders. It’s noticeable how many times he catches defenders with the ball and I think it’s because he looks like he can’t be arsed to run but then he does run and once he decides to run – he’s bloody quick. Also, his legs are about 5 feet long so he can nick the ball without actually getting that close.

Half time approached and I sensed that the SMS faithful were getting ready to boo the team off at half time. Unhappy with this state of affairs, Adam Lallana drifted from left to right, beating a host of defenders as he went before being fouled on the right hand edge of the penalty area. He got up and floated the free kick onto the head of Jose Fonte who buried it from a couple of yards out. Half time and jeers had turned to cheers.

At half time, a choir came out on to the Kingsland side of the pitch and sang a couple of vaguely gospel numbers. There were a few of them but I make no apology for only noticing the girl on the right of the front row as you watched from the Kingsland…. Wow! I challenge any bloke who was sat near me to deny they were thinking the same thing. After they’d finished, I wondered when the Chuckle Brothers would kick off talking bollocks but they’d moved about six seats along so I couldn’t hear the magic that fell from their mouths.

The second half started in scrappy fashion and the first major incident leaves us talking about D’Arsehole again as the Gulyman went through on goal and was goalside of Hazell, the last defender who clearly grabbed his arm. Guly tried to stay on his feet and even with his telescopic leg, couldn’t reach the ball to shoot as he was being hauled back. Penalty and a red card all day long but D’Arsehole and the lino, amazingly decided not.

The game was drifting and it was crying out for a change in centre midfield as Chappers was on a one man mission to give the ball way as much as possible and Morgan had gone back to doing nothing of note, which he always does when he plays as the defensive midfielder. Around 65 minutes, Nigel decided it was time for a change and Alex Chamberlain and Lee Barnard came on for Punch and Sir Rickie meaning that the central area remained the same but that we still had the Wotton card to play.

Within ten minutes we were in front as a spot of pinball around the Oldham penalty area ended with Chamberlain with the ball with a bit to do. The nipper stepped on the gas and drifted past a defender before drilling home. Get in…. the boy can play.

It was getting near cramp time for do Prado and before he collapsed, he was replaced by The Late Paul Wotton who received a possibly ironic heroes welcome as the launched himself into the fray with his speciality overhead clearance where he picks out a random opposition player with a blind hoof over his shoulder. I was a bit worried that this substitution would invite Oldham onto us but both Schneiderlin and Chaplow pushed further forward to support Barnard who was still sporting his cast on his hand which interestingly means that his hand is always in a fist shape.

I feel that if Barnard had full use of his right hand, he may have belted D’Arsehole with it who was basically allowing the Oldham defence to prepare Barnard for prison life with repeated assaults from behind (oooooooooooh!). I see you still have all of your limbs… play on!

Anyway – 90 minutes up and time for the ‘Added Time Scoreboard of Fate’…. 5 minutes, oh do fuck off. Saints came desperately close to sealing it when Alex Chamberlain ran from inside his own half, leaving about 5 players in his wake before firing against the far post. Oldham of course, put their defensive mountain up front and started launching it which in the main is expertly dealt with by the one man defensive unit that is Jose Fonte. They got the one chance that D’Arsehole was obviously hoping they’d get and Superkelv came to the rescue with a fine finger tip save in the 95th minute. D’Arsehole then got something right by blowing the final whistle.

In truth it was a strange performance – there was a lot less of the passing football of the Tranmere and Bournemouth games and a lot more hitting the channels for Guly and Sir Rickie to chase so at times it wasn’t pretty but the bottom line is that we won, against a well organized team who came for a point. Not only that but we were 1-0 down and as The Daily Echo helpfully pointed out during the week, we never get anything when we go behind, not even a goal. Chamberlain and Barnard made massive differences when they came on and the injection of pace came at just the right time. I would think that the Chamberlain or Punch question must be kicking around in Nigel’s mind. Also, I thought Fonte was superb today and Butterfield had a decent match. A few grumbles though… I hate to say I told you so but I fucking did and Chaplow and Schneiderlin were a poor combination. Chaplow gives the ball away far too often and Morgan will never be a defensive midfielder as long as he has a hole in his ass. I was also not impressed by Harding today who looked very sluggish and aside from his non-contribution to their goal, a lot of our attacks seemed to break down on him, especially in the first half. Personally, I’d like to see Ryan Dickson given a go as he adds a bit more pace on the left where we currently have none.

Nigel was happy in his press conference and praised the subs, including the Legend of Wotton and was also scathing of the goal we conceded. Thye win closed the table right up again and a win next week at Notts County could see us rise about 6 places, right into the playoff mix. Meanwhile, a word for Brighton now six points clear at the top… and the word is, bastards.

Oh… and Andy D’Arsehole… piss off back to the Prem… you’re useless.

Andy D'Urso has his own Facebook fan club.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=63356039847

League 1 Match 43 - Southampton 0 Oldham 0

Catchphrase: Say what you see.. Wanker in the Black... Riiiiiiiiight

Oldham rocked up at the SMS Shit or Bust Last Chance Saloon. For us it was a chance to get to within 5 points of Huddersfield with three games remaining. Anything less than a win and our playoff chances were that stuff that comes out of a toaster, that’s right, crumbs. When we played Oldham away I recalled Roger Milford refereeing performances and irritating players that they had. At the time they were the equivalent of today’s Hull, Wigan or Burnley… an unfashionable Northern Club in the Premier League. If you were not being charitable you could describe them all as shit Northern club with few fans who add absolutely nothing to the league they are in. That would be harsh though.

Schneiderlin’s suspension meant there was a space in central midfield and this was filled by Paul Wotton. Michail Antonio dropped to the bench to make way for the return of a second striker in Lee Barnard. Lloyd James was on the bench where there was no place for the Jaidi shaped man mountain.

The game starts and Oldham are playing that formation we all love, you know the one with the centre forward totally isolated about 40 yards from any other player. This made for a cagey opening with the first goalmouth action coming following the award of a free kick for a foul on Barnard. Sir Rickie beat the wall but the keeper made a decent low save with the rebound narrowly avoiding the players following in.

We are 12 minutes into the game and stumpy little short arse goalkeeper and ex-Saints ‘never made it’ Daryl Flahavan goes to take a goal kick. He retrieves a ball from a ball boy to the right of the goal, walks over to the left, changes his mind and walks back to the right, puts it down, backs away, pauses for a bit, takes one pace of his run up, stops, takes a step back, starts his run up again and kicks it. Well done you stumpy bastard. Three minutes later – same ritual again. Hammond, Puncheon and Wotton are all on a the ref but he does nothing. Here’s what to do if you’re ever refereeing. The first time a keeper obviously wastes time, tell him to cut that shit out and get on with it. The second time you book him – no pissing about and that’s the end of the issue. It’s so easy so why does no referee do this?

The game stuttered along to the half hour mark before the crowd got excited and loud when Saints were awarded a free kick on the edge of our own penalty area. This was a well received event because it was the first thing we had been given by the useless fuck with the whistle since the free kick on 9 minutes. In amongst the referring masterclass unfolding before our eyes, we manage an effort by Hammond which loops up and is clawed away by Stumpy. It’s already feeling like one of those days.

Oldham have retreated back so far they are nearly back in Lancashire and the ball seems to be attached to Dan Seaborne. He obviously doesn’t like this state of affairs and see it as his mission to welly it as far as possible in the general direction of Sir Rickie. Seaborne has about 30 yards of space to walk into but he must have the voice of Peter Kay in his ear, ‘HAVE IT!!!’. That advert was funny but this isn’t – take it forward, draw them out, then pass it FFS.

Dan Harding had our last chance before half time when Lallana set him up and he lashed a snap shot into the empty seats behind the goal where the Oldham fans could have been if they had any. Harding was involved again when right on half time the Oldham right winger momentarily got away from him but as Dan got back to him he threw himself to the floor and Harding got a booking. Another brilliant bit of refereeing. Half time and rubbish.

Pards decided to change things at the start of the second half only he didn’t really with James coming on for Wotton in a straight swap. Unless he’s injured then I don’t see the point in that one myself as it means that one of Waigo, Connolly and Antonio isn’t going to get on. The ball was worked back to Lloyd from the kick off and he banged it up the wing and out for a throw to Oldham, illustrating immediately why he was brought on.

We went close soon after with Barnard having a shot saved but the referee did for us again when an Oldham centre back quite clearly handballed as he jumped with Sir Rickie. Penalty all day and nothing given. More Oldham time wasting an indulgence from the referee was interrupted by a Sir Rickie header which again, was saved by the vertically challenged custodian of the nets. At this point I (rather negatively I thought) decided that we weren’t going to score today

The ref then finally did something about all the time wasting. Oldham made a sub on the hour mark and the player going off took an age to get off the pitch. The ref ran after him and booked him just as he was stepping off the pitch. The net result of this booking was therefore nothing at all. The player booked was not going to be inconvenienced at all and it wasn’t going to make the other 11 get on with it.

Papa Waigo came on for Barnard and Saints went a bit gung ho, over committing players forward but without any quality delivery to make this tactic effective. Inevitably, Oldham actually got into our half and broke away and it took a bit of a spawny save from Superkelv to stop Oldham taking what would have been the most undeserved lead in history. Kelvin appeared to dive the wrong was and the ball kind of got stuck between his knees. Doesn’t matter how you keep them out I guess.

Would it be Connolly or Antonio as the final throw of the dice? In the end it was Connolly and to the surprise of no one, it was Lloyd James who came off to make it the second time that the sub has been subbed this season. This was a tactical substitution as we were chasing the game but I can’t imagine anyone was impressed with James’ performance which was a real 2 out of 10 effort and that’s being generous.

We get a corner and Seaborne’s header is smothered away by a combination of mini-keeper and defenders. Papa Waigo is looking our player most likely as the game enters the last 10 minutes. Punch and Lallana are trying hard and trying to play through the massed ranks of defenders but it’s just not working and so we need the full backs to be getting round the back, providing width and getting crosses in. Dan Harding is doing ok on the left but today is the day I finally made up my mind about Jon Otsemobor.

When a team is winning you tend to gloss over some of the players failings but when it doesn’t go according to plan and you want a player to actually do something to influence things, you notice that some can’t. Aside from the James-Wotton Dead Zone – the one who hit the depths for me today was Jon Otsemobor. He is wank (perhaps no the best adjective as it has an end product) and that’s all there is to it. When the surgeons removed the bullet from his arse they must have also removed his will to win. If there is a 50-50 to win – he’ll lose it. If there is a 60-40 in his favour to win – he’ll delay just long enough to not have to compete for the ball and lose it. All he has got is his pace – nothing else. Can’t tackle, can’t cross a ball, no brain, no guts. Useless, really useless and contract up in three more games and don’t let the door hit your ass.

The final flurry of activity in the Oldham penalty area peaks with a Sir Rickie header that is blocked by one of ten defenders in the way and a peach of a low cross from the same player which is not really attacked by anyone as it fizzes across the goal about four yards out and out for a goal kick.

Bugger it.

The referee managed to end the game without getting it wrong, which was a surprise. He was incredibly inept all game but in a strange way, the fact that our playoff hopes were now gone made the anger at him a bit less because I had something else to be annoyed about. Saints were faced with a team who were intent solely on defending and getting a 0-0 and a referee who was so bad that they could waste time, persistently foul, pull shirts and basically do whatever they wanted and get away with it. Saints however have got to be able to rise above this though and today, for whatever reason, it wasn’t going to happen. Oldham for their part defended very well in great numbers and worked incredibly hard and got what they came for. I reckon that and early goal would have seen us win 4-0 but it wasn’t to be. Morgan's stupid sending off bit us hard today as both Wotton and James were not what the doctor ordered (unless he ordered a plate of crap with a side order of bollocks) and though he's not the long term answer, Simon Gillett would have been a better bet today as he gets stuck in but occasionally you get a decent pass out of him, unlike the two that played today. I hope now that Huddersfield get 6th place with more than the 78 points we could have got before today.

Shit game, shit result, sod all chance or making the playoffs, shit everything. For me personally… I’ve got no job and I have a sinus cold which makes my head feel like it’s about to explode. Still, tomorrow the sun will be shining and my car will need all the volcanic ash clearing off of it, a task which I have all day to perform. To nearly all of you who went to SMS tonight, I hope you haven’t caught my cold as it’s not nice. If you are one of the Chuckle Brothers sitting behind me, however…

Next up, JPT Final revisited as it’s Carlisle at home….

League 1 Match 13 - Oldham 1 Southampton 3

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
========================
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 !!!