Sat Dec 05, 2009 11:03 pm
We're gonna have to start playing all our matches on a Tuesday night, as we win on Tuesday's and lately never seem to perform on a Saturday. We had a go for the first half hour, but once the first goal went in then the second was inevitable. I accept we were beaten by a better team, but it just seemed that during the game the team themselves accepted they were being beaten by a better side, and therefore left Southampton too it.
There's been some nonsence written above about Sansara and Richards. Maybe I was watching a different game but the two of them did appear to be trying to work together. I was sat at the end of the F2G Lower, pretty much behind Sansara throughout the first half, and the problems were coming when Connolly was drifting out wide. Saints always seemed to have a 3 on 2 down that side and just kept picking out the spare man.
The first goal was disappointing but was a very good finish. This might sound strange but I actually blame Ince for the second goal. After the first goal we were all at sea, and I said to Jockey that we really looked like we needed half time. About four times during that period Ince got the ball in his hands and each time he got rid of it quickly. We lost it, it came straight back, Ince got it again and then released it as quick as he could again. I feel he should have just held the ball for a bit, killed a bit of time and broke the game up a bit to get us to half time 0-1 when we could regroup. However, we tried to rush and play at Southamptons pace and couldn't manage it. 0-2.
The third goal, Connolly had so much time that he even had time to fall over, pick himself up and still score without being under any pressure. I was about to up and leave at that point but then Byfield scored and for a minute or two you just wondered if we could get into it.
Bradley spent the whole game running like he'd got a brick in his shoe. The only surprising thing about his substitution was that it didn't happen earlier. At 0-2 we should have replaced Bradley, Mattis and Richards with Nicholls, O'Keefe and Parkin. However, we only made one change in the whole game and that to me was the most worrying thing. Southampton were making changes before we were and they'd got the game sewn up, yet Hutch wouldn't freshen it up.
A defeat I could accept, but the manner of it was really disappointing.