SNSUN

Weekend's fixtures: Burnley vs West Ham Reading vs Blackpool Southampton vs Doncaster. I reckon wins for us and West Ham there, but Reading to draw against Blackpool.

For a team that has struggles away this season, what a terrific run of away wins that is. Just as we trip up with our sensational home form, we manage to find some stones away. This is not the Southampton I grew up being used to. It's bloody much better! If we do go up, potentially struggling would be a welcome return to the norm that we haven't experienced since the 2008-2009 season.

Well I will say it... ...I love Adkins and want his babies.

NOW I want to do the Beeb prediction league. Even being as stingy as possible towards Saints, it'll be tough to get us to finish in the play-offs. West Ham and Reading have to meet - and I think we could be the nail in Reading's coffin when they visit SMS.

Words cannot describe how great a feeling these results have given us tonight. 5 points clear - even if West Ham win their game in hand, that's still a four point gap with a better goal difference. It's looking mighty rosy up there - do we say it? Do we DARE say it?

West Ham game over 1-1, Reading lose, Saints win. Sexual, sexual night.

West Ham hit the top of the net! Come on Boro!

Jutkiewicz hit the crossbar!

PLEASE stay the same SCORELINES! Come on you scorelines!

Middesbrough AND Posh score!!! I love the BOROS!!!

In that order. It's always wise to use the loo before the missus.

Skates winning! Who on here said that Birmingham didn't have the strength in depth to maintain an automatic promotion spot? That man is a genius.

Nice one Jos. Keep it together. Lucky smoke/Poo/slice of walnut cake coming up...

Thanks everyone, especially Jack, some very helpful advice. In fact, the above paragraph in bold is exactly what I expect the itinerary will be on Friday and Saturday night! (Not that I plan an itinerary, that would be an anal thing to do. Although it shows how useless my best man is that I'm organising it myself...) We're staying at the Premier Inn on the Haymarket so I figure Syndicate is the closest club, but we'll definitely be exploring as only one of my party has lived, or even been, there!

Played quite well, more attacking than Boro BUT... they didn't score. How many times have teams said "We were good in the first half and poor in the second." Clutching at straws perhaps, but they don't have Tomkins, and Boro can be a good team at times. Come on Jutkiewicz!

Absolutely! A Middlesborough goal would top the night off perfectly. (With a few more for us thrown in.) Life isn't perfect though, and I expect it will all change. A win for us is the only result I care for tonight - West Ham and Reading losses/draws would be massive bonuses.

I'm not surprised West Ham struggle at home - I've hardly heard anything from their fans so far...

Coys

Posh winning!

For my stag do, I have chosen Bristol. I've never been, although there were reasons behind my choice, and it's all booked, so no saying how shyte Bristol is! (Which I know you will anyway!) . However I ask you, to those of you in the know, where's good to go in Bristol, bars, clubs, restaurants etc and their locations?

The top three at the moment will be the top three IMO. Reading to go up via the play-offs though, but I reckon Blackpool will be a team you don't want to meet in them...

Me or Merse!?! I was plastered when I wrote the OP, although I'm amazed at how good my typing was, having read it back it was a little OTT, although I do think Merse's balls ups are funny, I do prefer the coherant and intelligent MLT. Obviously! Was Merse plastered? Isn't he always? :-D

I was in bloody Wetherspoons FFS (I know...) when I saw this on the TV. So, so sad, but while he's in Intensive Care, he's in the best hands possible. People always say the old cliche 'It puts football into perspective', but it really does. Recovering from this illness is job no.1. I must admit, it brought a tear to the eye. (I'm a softy, I was upset when Seaborne got attacked, albeit on a more personal level.)

I was watching SSN too. When Lambert scored his third? I turned the TV and radio off and I jumped straight in the shower. (To get ready for a night out, not because I didn't bear hearing what happened after that.)

Right, first thing's first, I'm not looking for negativity, nor do I expect this to stay on the main board for too long before it gets shipped off to General Sports. AND I'm just in from a night out. But... Paul Merson has to be the most CR-P pundit ever. Not just on British sports television, but ever. Now, perhaps he suffers from having the articulate Matthew Le Tissier sat next to him, but it wasn't even just a case of not knowing a player's name today. I know his incompetency has been reported in the past, but he was on form yesterday. Firstly was Lamberts' opener. He was watching OUR game live - but he didn't know who Schneiderlin was, so he just said "...and it was set up by a great run by...umm...umm...let's say Liana." So not only did he get the player wrong, or he cared not to try and say his name, but the player he chose to mention? Yep, got his name wrong too. And? Sorry for this point, frivolity on my part, but he reported the goal as if it was the first of a thrashing. Millwall's first? An own goal. By Hooverd, apparently. He has the benefit of replays. Millwall's second? The first of the two goals I believe he got right yesterday. A cracking shot. Southampton's second? He got this right too, mainly because MLT was cheering his arse off next to him, although had Sharp struck it first time, we wouldn't be having this conversation. (Yes, I believe had Sharp had his full killer instinct he'd have sunk it first time) Our third? 'Shouldn't have been given because a Southampton player handled it'. Now granted, at full speed, it was tough to say, but that's how the ref saw it, and the ref saw it at full speed. Merse has the benefit of replays in the studio. And, while watching the replays, he maintained a Southampton player handled it. (Apparently in summarising the game he said both were penalties, and he regains credit for that.) Now I'm not on a witch hunt, nor do I expect SSN to allow MLT to cover a Saints game due to bias, but it seems to me Merson is a terrible, terrible pundit. What do you reckon? (Incidentally, for those of you that were actually watching SSN, did you see Kamara try and say the Watford players' name? ' Kačaniklić' became Kacananaclic, and the SSN lot were in hysterics. Why do they employ these people?)