KK the 2nd

4/1 a Saints win with Stan James .. Our away form suggests it's worth a punt in my view.

Looks like Hamilton, according to the bookies, with only Adlington and Hoy in with a chance. Latest odds (decimal format) Lewis Hamilton 1.57 Rebecca Adlington 4 Chris Hoy 6 Joe Calzaghe 67 Andrew Murray 81 Nicole Cooke 201 Rebecca Romero 201 Ben Ainslie 251 Bradley Wiggins 251 Christine Ohuruogu 251

Sounds like he was quite a ladies man judging by the last two posts! Good luck to John, great memories of him dashing down the left wing, often so fast he would run into the wall at the Archers or Milton!

I honestly think we are over-doing the popularity of this match. We are talking as if it is the cup final not the 3rd round. Sure it will be popular and should see us get near a capacity crowd, which will be great for the finances, but let’s be real, it will be MU reserves turning out, so I don’t expect a big black market in tickets at all. I will get two tickets for my two STs.

Fully agree. Great post from Therese's Boy and one that sums up my feelings exactly. Mick is 7 years older than I am and I remember seeing him break into the team as a young teenager when I was a lad. He has been a hero of mine ever since and I have the upmost admiration for him. I am also a racing fan and to achieve what Mick has done in reaching the pinnacle in two totally different sports is outstanding, but throughout he has always had a smile and enjoyed life to the full! Happy birthday Mick and "arise Sir Mick" is long overdue.

Some of their more balanced fans give us some credit this morning (the majority just say their team were sh*t) .. I didn't mind losing today, but what really surprised me was what a good team Southampton were, they played us off the park. Quite why they are down near the bottom of the division is a mystery if they can play like that. When we got back into it and had some momentum they just kept the ball, pass after pass, and throw in after throw in until our frustration showed and we just gave the ball back to them. Their tactics stifled our wingers, and then we look like an ordinary team with fragile confidence that is incapable of making the simplest pass. Having said that, Doyler could of equalised it with this free header at the end, but in fairness that would have been a travesty given how we'd played. and another ... Well maybe that thrashing today will do us some favours in the long term. We're not Brazil - we were closer to being Barnet today - so we were never going to go through the long season unbeaten at home in such a competitive league. It might bring some amongst us down to earth too; three wins on the spin had already toasting promotion it seemed and some of the fanciful predictions on another thread belied Southampton's good away form and the fact that we simply aint nowehere near as good as some of you think we are. Southampton were one of the few teams to come to Reading and try and pass the ball about, and just like against Doncaster and the second half against Swansea we truly struggled. Some of their movement, passing and little flicks were a joy to behold and they were a class above us all game. No complaints at all today - the referee performed well and Southampton played honestly and openly. My only reservations tonight are with the management; Harper on for 80 anonymous minutes? No half time changes having been played off the park in an ineffective opening 45 minutes? Long on for half an hour of the usual honest endeavour with negligible quality? The players can take a look at themselves too; Hahnemann inexplicably failing to come for the first cross for the opening goal for instance, Bikey's showboating bordering on sloppiness. And there is a complete absence of leaders on the pitch for Reading when things go badly wrong as they did today. Not good to watch, but a timely reminder that we aren't head and shoulders above this division like we were 3 years ago.

Ahh .. I think I now understand how we won .. playing 5-2-5!

Great result. We now need to do it at home. Hopefully 4-4-2 will see us kill off Plymouth on Tuesday.

Stelling said something like The last we heard Saints were hanging on but, Matt, I'm afraid the news from the Madejsksi is ... they still are!

Stelling's wind up of Matt was uncalled for!!

I see we were 9/1 to win today!! lets hope we can upset the odds.

Agree with best entertainer as keeper was Budgie, followed by Brucie and, for his hairstyle alone, Eric Martin. However best keeper by a mile was Shilts.

Bought this a couple of years ago and was quite a good read. The MLT story from a fan's perspective. Might be difficult to get hold of now though. http://www.amazon.co.uk/One-man-Team-Matt-Tissier-Story/dp/0954867823

To be honest with you ... (to me suggests the person has been lying through their teeth upto that point)

14/1 has gone with Paddy Power, they are now 10/1 to be relegated with PP. Best price now 12/1 with skybet. As short as 8/1 with some. Here's hoping Kenwyne can do some damage today.

Thinking of having a bet on Pompey to go down, 14/1 with Paddy Power on-line. With the other teams at the bottom hitting some form (Spurs, Newcastle, Bolton) Pompey could get dragged into the scrap and 14/1 seems value?

suicide is painless, it brings on many changes and I can take or leave it if I please.

Amazing decision .. I agree could be good for us as puts another club in the mire.

Landslide so far .. Barack Obama 86.9% (614,241 votes) John McCain 13.1% (92,529 votes)

Latest relegation odds (in decimal form, i.e. Saints are just over 2/1) suggest Watford may be joining our mini league Doncaster 1.4 Nottm Forest2.05 Barnsley 3.1 Southampton3.1 Watford 3.25 Coventry 5 Charlton 5.5 Blackpool 5.5

For the cup final in Cardiff I dug out my old yellow silk scarf from 76. Might have been the booze or pre match euphoria but a saints fan in the pub before the game said he hadn't seen one for years and offered me 20 quid. Declined of course.

Always remember his goals against Derby

I have to say coming back from 2-0 I never envisaged however I had a feeling that a Saints win was due and even had a bet on a Saints win at 4/1 with bet365 (first time I have backed Saints this season). I wish I had doubled it up with Wigan winning at Pompey though!! Great day!!

Wigan 2

.. from another Delap long throw! Why didn't this work for us when they were with us?