Despite Derby’s struggles an away victory in the league is always a very good result so credit to the players and staff for the result and performance. Whether Saints can maintain their form on the ball and alloy it to better defending (especially from set pieces) will determine whether we can achieve anything better than a relegation battle this season.

Saints passed the ball well for the most part with far more movement off the ball and more chances created then we’ve seen for the last few seasons. However, as at Cardiff, you always felt the taller, more powerful and more experienced opposition would eventually win out. As the game wore on, Birmingham realised that they didn’t need to chase Saints in midfield they could just pack their defence and attack confident that our defence would crumble before theirs.

Losing to two of the better sides in the league is no cause for alarm in itself, especially as we could easily have got results in both games. However, most teams in the Championship plays the way Brum did in the second half yesterday and we are too lightweight both in attack and defence to deal with it. The sale of Andrew Davies to Stoke, as looks likely from Poortvliet’s comments today, will mean the loss of the one player in our squad who could have improved yesterday’s showing markedly.

Ratings
Kelvin Davis: 6 – Made some fine saves when left exposed but still doesn’t command his area the way a top keeper would.
Lloyd James: 7 – Needs to improve his defensive positioning and resist the temptation to hit it long but some of Saints best moments came from his roaming down the right to link up with McGoldrick.
Chris Perry: 6 – Not the centre-back expected to threaten from set pieces so goal was a bonus but overall the defence was shaky, in part due to Perry’s weakness in the air.
Michael Svensson: 6 – Was dominant first-half but still needs more games. Possibly overcompensating for Perry’s lack of height in trying to win everything and is then being caught out of position.
Andrew Surman: 5 – I’ve always felt Surman is a better centre-midfielder then left-winger and he’s even more out of position at left-back. Improved slightly as game wore on but too easily beaten in the air and on the deck.
Simon Gillet: 6 – Gave the ball away a few times but showed huge work-rate across the entire park. Perhaps he would be a better full-back option with Surman moving into midfield?
Morgan Schneiderlin: 6 – Looked very classy on the ball first-half but couldn’t get involved second half when Saints needed someone of his quality to move further forward and create chances.
Adam Lallana: 5 – Started well enough but didn’t create enough in the attacking midfield role.
David McGoldrick: 6 – Always gave Saints an out ball and showed some excellent touches but never looked likely to continue his scoring streak.
Lee Holmes: 5 – Similiar to Lallana, made stuff happen when given the chance first-half but simply couldn’t provide the centre-foward with enough support.
Stern John: 5 – Looked very rusty and really stuggled to hold the ball up which is where he excelled last season. Also missed a very good chance just before Birmingham’s equaliser which would probably have reversed the result.
Manager: 5 – Obviously hamstrung by the experienced players who’ve left and the side initially looked good but failed to react to a far better showing from Brum in the second half. Failed to give adequate reasoning behind the lack of bench options – even if you’re doubtful over one of your defenders you need some attacking options like Wright-Phillips or Dyer.
Birmingham: 7 – Look like a good championship side, big and strong at the back with a stupendous number of options up front. No guile or creativity but that won’t matter until/unless they get promoted.
Ref: 7 – Didn’t have any major decisions to make, didn’t break up the play too much and generally did ok. The rotund linesmen infront of the Itchen was a bit flag-happy to both sides though.
Man of the Match: Cameron Jerome – The enforced change were he came on for Nafti really benefited Birmingham as he provided a powerful and pacy threat down the flanks and middle. Benefited from Surman and James trying to get forward and being caught out at the back but looks like he could cause havoc amongst Championship defences this season.

Michael Svensson was back and if he can return to even 70% of the player he once was it will be a huge boost. He’s a natural leader in defence that Saints have missed so badly in his absence and given the lack of able competition at the back we’ll need him to start more league games than not this season. Another obvious bright spot for Saints was the goal, with Surman and McGoldrick both hinting that this season they might convert their promise into more assists and goals this term (as they’ll have to!).

Looking ahead, we’ve got the tricky away tie to Exeter in the Carling Cup then the home game against Birmingham on Saturday. For a young side momentum is even more important that usual and I get the feeling that one win could become a decent run but another defeat, with difficult games looming, could leave us with the all too familiar feeling of falling behind the early pace.

The game started evenly with both sides showing nerves as passes went astray. Saints were just starting to apply some pressure with Andrew Surman prominent when they got caught by a sucker punch. Hulse won the ball on the right and looped a cross over Jermaine Wright for Quinn to head home. United then had their best spell of the game with Richard Wright making a point-blank save to deny Sharp.

With half time approaching Saints knew they needed a goal to only leave themselves a one goal swing away from Leicester who were drawing at Stoke. The goal arrived after good work from Euell down the left and a deflection saw the ball loop over Kenny in the United goal and Saganowski dived in to score. At half-time Saints were down but playing well enough to raise the level of hope among the fans.

Saints started the second half well and were rewarded when Stern John chested a ball down to Saganowski who chipped the ball over the defence back to John who calmly steered the ball home. At 2-1 with Coventry losing and Leicester drawing Saints were safe and Saganowski should have secured the win when put through but he took too long at was tackled before pulling the trigger.

Sheffield substitute John Stead equalised when Jermaine Wright made a meal of a clearance and allowed Quinn to cross for Stead to steer home. The St. Mary’s crowd instantly tried to rally the team and it worked when John made a chance out of nothing on the edge of the area, turning his man and firing home.

Substitutes Lallana and Licka were doing well when John got him self stupidly sent off for a rash tackle following on from an earlier booking when he removed his shirt celebrating his first goal. With 10 minutes remaining it was a case of desperate defending but Richard Wright inspired confidence with some assured handling from the crosses being slung in and Lallana proved a willing runner to give the defence some breathing space.

Eventually (following some confusion) the whistle went and confirmation that Stoke and Charlton had done their parts ensured that Saints would remain in the championship. Today showed that with 32,000 in the stadium and a positive atmosphere every match we really could be pushing for promotion. However their is an EGM looming which will probably see yet more boardroom turmoil and quite possibly another managerial change to go with more turnover of players.

Saints started quite brightly with Surman joining attacks well from left-back and Licka looking lively cutting in from the flanks. But we failed to create any clear-cut chances with Wright-Phillips looking desperately low on confidence and John starting to look tired after carrying the goal scoring burden for so long. After Surman had a long range effort well saved Burnley broke and Lucketti gave away a soft free-kick. Saint’s marking was poor and only a superb Richard Wright save denied Burnley. However from the resulting corner Saints let Caldwell wander from back post to front completely unmarked allowing him to head the only goal of the game.

Second half Saints continued to dominate without creating; a number of crosses and pull-backs narrowly missed onrushing or backpedalling players betraying a lack of composure in the final third. Saints best chance came when Wright-Phillips steered the ball onto the post from close-range and Euell couldn’t force the rebound home. Jensen in the Burnley goal made two good saves from Idiakez and Safri but the fact that Saints had to resort to shots from outside the area told its own story.

It’s all eyes on the other teams next weekend as Saints don’t play till Monday away at leaders West Brom. Leicester and Wednesday play each other in the biggest game from our point of view, anything but a Leicester win will see us back in the relegation zone but a draw is probably the best result as long as we pick up some points in our last two games. Unlike most sides in this division West Brom actually try to play attacking football so I’d expect Saints to have some joy going forward, however our brittle defence will mean a 3-3 draw is probably the best we can hope for!

Like last week against Bristol City, both sides had a number of penalty appeals rejected, this time Saints were probably happier for the referee to turn down all of them. Richard Wright made a superb save from Ambrose shortly after the Charlton goal to earn Saints the point. Leicester’s last minute equaliser against relegated Colchester was a shame but it was still a bad result for them which keeps the foxes 2 points back. Hopefully Plymouth can do us a favour by beating Wednesday and we’ll start against Burnley knowing that 2 wins from 3 games would definitely keep us up.

The first goal came about shortly before half-time as Jermaine Wright crossed for Euell who twice headed the ball across goal before John volleyed in from a tight angle. Basso made several superb saves, especially from Mario Licka and Wright-Phillips, and Saints were denied a clear penalty when a City defender punched the ball clear from a cross. Eventually Saints clinched the points when Euell stabbed home from yet another save from Wright-Phillips after a superb cross by Licka.

Euell’s strong running and role in both goals probably earnt him the man of the match award but the whole team played well for once. Licka, Idiakez and Safri provide a bit of composure and creativity with Vignal (until going off injured) and Wright getting forward well from the full-back positions to support attacks. Perry and Lucketti did very well to form a new defensive partnership at short notice and contained City with relatively few alarms.

City were poor but credit to Nigel Pearson and the players who showed suprisingly good levels of belief and confidence after recent results. Thanks to some other results going our way we moved up to 19th, although Barnsley and Wednesday still have games in hand. Aside from the earlier result at Wembley the only blot on the day was some trouble after the game where City fans set about some local hoodies at the nearby car dealerships.

The result leaves Saints just a point ahead of Sheffield Wednesday who have 2 games in hand, so in real terms we’re in the drop zone. And with only 15 points left to play for, Saints will probably have to beat three out of Bristol City(1), Charlton(11), Burnley(10), West Brom(4) and Sheffield United(13) just to have a fighting chance. Cardiff have shown that we can’t rely on mid-table teams to roll over and let us win, we need to make things happen ourselves.