brightspark

This game will go the same way as Tranmere/Stockport/Gillingham/Wycombe/Yeovil at home. A lot of huff and puff from the away side, limited quality, comfortable win. Head: 2-0 Saints, Heart: 7-0 Saints!!!!

Tasty

Well you'd think his ability, goalscoring rate, threat, the sheer panic he puts into defenders, would clearly be enough for him to be possibly player of the season??? Oh hang on a minute, that was won by an overrated diving pussy gump called Jermaine...... at least its less attention for clubs to want to steal him off us. if these awards mean that Championship clubs believe that Beckford is better than Lambert, it's their funeral

I've missed 49 competitive matches this season and seen 2 (yay for brentford away and stockport home!!!). I know, I feel ashamed, as its only around $2000 and a week away from home to catch all of the matches. I guess i'm not wanted anymore then.

I heard the boos. WTF do they think they are doing? Mindless tw*ts. This guy pours his heart and soul into the job and thats what some stupid minority of fans give him? If I was there, I would genuinely have told the pr1cks to shut the f**k up.

That was... very sweet Was close to emotional seeing us lift the paint pot!!!!

I did this last night before Colchester, Huddersfield and Charlton dropped points. I deliberately was Saints biased and saw us finishing 7th, with draws away at Brizzle and home to Carlisle. In order to get in the play offs IMO, we need results to go our away at a steady rate, and for us to W7 D1 L0 of our remaining games It'll never happen but my false hope remains. COYR!!! lets win the cup today!!!

If there was a position that you could dive and get away with it, it was the position Fonte was in. The referee was blinded by at least two players including the player that commited the offence. The assistant has no chance of seeing it, because he is on the other side of the field. The other assistant and 4th Official have no right to change the referees mind due to the distance that they are away from the incident, and therefore cannot have any input into the eventual decision. The only way the referee could have done better in this situation was to run more into the corner, having a clearer angle on the tangle of legs between Fonte and Doumbe. This issue of fitness and speed is probably the difference between a league 1 ref and a UEFA ref. Its funny because i've just come off the local Brisbane football forum commenting on a thread whining about the standard of refereeing. My belief is that as time has gone on, more has been expected of a referee. This is mainly due to increased media coverage and increased video replay scrutinising. The fans become more aware of the mistakes being made and often remember the mistakes more than the good decisions. As well as this, the footballing society we currently live in makes it "acceptable" for people to question or even abuse a referee. This should not be the case, but sadly it is.

I think we will rest a few players and labour to a 2-1 win. Our season is all about Sunday. For a lot of fans it will be the dividing line between a successful season and an unsuccessful season.

Most referees have their appointments scheduled for them around 2 weeks in advance. So its likely he knew he was doing this game before last weekend. He has probably watched the game over and its likely he knows he had a poor one.

You can't lose to both Tranmere and Swindon. Just can't. Pardew will be getting twitchy.

Morning time it will be about the same, but with heavy, unpredictable showers.

this is the kind of game that if Saints were 1-0 down and I was watching the game it would end 1-1. So it'll finish 0-1 then I guess.

Do our results depend on the performance of this guy? Ever since he has signed it seems to be the case!!! Very frustrating night, must learn, must go up next season.

Yep. Unfortunately our squad is meant to be automatic promotion material right now. I'm not saying that we should be winning every game, and i'm not saying that I expected us to feature up top this season. But 3 points from 3 games, when 7 is the least expected. We do stutter to much. If we do this next season and fail, there will be many angry fans. And one very angry chairman.

Looking forward to watching the game on Saints Player. Walton won't get sacked for this unless evidence is found (which it won't - it is likely that Walton was on a personal vendetta if anything), so the best result for the paying Saints fans and the mood-dependant fan base is that, if he was that bad, for him to be demoted to League 2... and at least a couple of weeks as 4th Official. As a referee myself i'm actually despondant. How can this EPL referee be SO BAD? how could he have given that incident in Leeds favour? It is a damning reflection on the Premier League at the end of the day, hopefully someone managed to get it through on 606 last night - because the more that find out about this the better. I am aware of new systems in England that are helping the production of good young referees. However most of them are foreign - and will referee in their respective countries. Numbers are down in the lower leagues and in the youth leagues, so there is a lot of hard work to be done to get the best for the future. I'm confident they can pull it off, because there are some clever men running these programs, however at the moment I fear that maybe the refs are getting what they deserve, ie more criticism.

Leeds best chance could be to starting wrecking the pitch with their studs...

I'm a referee and i'm always the first person to step in and defend one, claiming the fans are hugely biased and frequently feel its OK to over react to an abusive level. But unfortunately i'm angered by this decision big time. IT WAS A DIVE. Seabourne does not move that leg! IT DOES NOT MOVE. The ref is in the perfect position to see this and yet his lack of concentration and possibly lack of balls meant he gave the penalty. Their number 4, Lods are whatever he is called, IS A CHEAT. This is where I can excuse the fans for having a go. Because there is no excuse for the referee here when usually he has at least one. But here he has a perfect view, the maximum time to make a decision, and he is standing still, meaning he should have whole concentration on the game. For him to muck this up is the equivalent of a michelin star chef undercooking your meat.

The sooner those batards lose their stinking rotten feeble excuse of a club to her royal highnesses tax super army and are forced to create a phoenix club, the better. However, as soon as that happens, i'm calling the RSPCA. That poor phoenix.

If you can't find a bar to watch it, why don't you bring the bar to you? Create one in your home/hotel, set up the laptop and watch some potentially illegal JPT final action in the comfort of your own bed/chair/settee!!! That's what I'll be doing in Brisbane unless there is anywhere showing it? However i'm sure the EPL game on an hour before takes significant priority (its a grim northern game, blackburn v someone). yuk.

Good to see someone going, or trying to go, to the JPT final from Aussie, even better that its a Queenslander!!! Unfortunately, considering that last month I returned from the UK on my first solo trip around the world, its not on the cards for me - neither anything for next season I guess. Still got to see Brentford away and Stockport home. 4 points, satisfied me!!!

We obviously need to give Pardew a chance next season. If we don't, we will become the next QPR, getting stuck in League One and threatening to do even more damage to our clubs status!!! I want Cortese to be upset, because thats something Lowe wouldn't have cared about last season. But I just hope he isn't as kneejerk as most of us are sometimes on this forum.

It wasn't that bad today. Perhaps it was the smell of the air.

Hmmmmm... 1) Injury? 2) Argument? 3) Was he booked? 4) Betting scandal? odd to have so many reasons over a sub. and odd to bring it up - was he asked that particular question?

Its a valid point and we are going to have to get used to it. Today is not good enough and hopefully we will react the right way and learn from it. In a way, we could need these things to happen to us, so that we successfully learn and change our ways for next season. However, this does not help the potentially harmful pressure that will be heaped on Pardew and the team when they next play away from home.