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Fonte for making the difference early on when it really mattered. Terrific break to put Guly in position to cross without pressure to Lallana. Diving header with enough power to bounce for the second goal which gave us the result we needed. It should be remembered before reading too much into individual performances that this was a very young Coventry side that would really only be considered a development side. I don't know what Allardyce was going on about all week, there was no way Coventry were going to give us a problem despite a lively start.

If they default on football debt they will be expelled.

What about the £37m WHU have to give Sheffield Utd. If HMRC win the creditors ruling it will make the WHU situation interesting.

I think we will win also I think there will be a number of goals so if there is a draw it will be high scoring game although I can't see it.

Saints v WHU results 1-0, 1-1 if everything equal we are promoted.

Your nipper will have to practice his sad face if that happens or he'll be out of a job Dave.

Tripleing the cost would be just right. It would keep down the queues for food and toilets at half time, there would be no need to enlarge the stadium, keep down the noise and give plenty of room to spread out without reducing income.

Coventry and Saints except 74/78 were pretty much friendly competitors. Coventry up a year after Saints and in most respects pretty similar. Best wishes for the future whatever the result.

I think it is basically down to the bitterness felt by SFC supporters over the attitude of PFC supporters when we were relegated and the WBA result together with more bile when we were in administration. When I was young there was competitiveness over derbies and wanting local teams to do well. It is the younger generation of both cities that have fostered the bile and hate and invented the Scummers/Skates. However most SFC supporters are disgusted with the behaviour of PFC in the past four years. I personally think they should be liquidated. Then they can get back to basics. It needs the council to CP Fratton Park. Southampton Council were prepared to purchase the stadium before we were takenover.

I think it was Bill Shankly, but it might have been Matt Busby, "Hit red socks" This match needs no motivation. Against Pompey Schneiderlin almost had a red mist in the first ten minutes, silly foul, booked, dived in and malicously injured by Varney leaving his foot in, I was thinking that he was going to get a second yellow in short order. We don't need to wind the players up and Nigel won't. That is why it is being kept out of the limelight.

That means that WHU have to win by 4. I think Hull will score at least once whatever the result. If they don't it could be a fairly low scoring game. I think we will win anyway.

What is obvious is Sam Allardyce is clutching at straws big time. His team is two points behind going into the game 3 goals worse off against a pretty fair Hull team that now will be stirred up by the Allardyce spin. One win at home in the last seven is not exactly the sort of form that would have a manager seeing his team as a shoe in for three points. I think he is full of bombast and is just carrying on the self delusion that has been coming out of WHU all season. WHU will be first, everybody else also rans, Then Southampton to blow up, then Reading to blow up, now Southampton again and guess what? who blew it? We are just quietly going about our business and leaving the speculation to the media and WHU. Coventry are being bigged up for TV but they are in for an examination like nothing they have faced this season in a one off cup final that only one side can come out with anything. We will give Coventry respect and then give it everything to win the game.

Interestingly we have achieved the best results with Hammond in central midfield. Ignoring the six games that the three central midfielders played together and managed a paltry 5 points in 6 games I have noted the results that have been achieved by the pairs. Cork and Hammond started the season off well and their record is 16 11 2 3, Cork and Schneiderlin 16 8 4 4, Hammond and Schneiderlin 7 5 2 0. Cork and Hammond's games scored 2.4 for and 1 against, Cork and Schneiderlin 1.6 for and 0.9 against, Hammond and Schneiderlin 1.9 for and 1 against. Individually Hammond averaged 2.2 whilst Cork and Schneiderlin averaged 2. Defensively the three pairings averaged a goal a game against but the Cork Hammond partnership outscored by a third. Just on the records it looks like the Hammond Cork partnership is the most effective overall but Hammond and Schneiderlin over 7 games only is the best results record but not free scoring.

If we end up in the play offs it will be because we messed up against Coventry. If that is the case at the moment my intention is not to go.

Why would players walk away. If PFC are liquidated their contracts revert to the league and under the FCR will be paid in full out of outstanding PPs. It would only be if the players could negotiate severance terms and have a new lucrative contract to go to that they would leave. I think they are clutching at straws.

Which was an unmitigated disaster, doubled our goals against and produced two goals from play in a very poor run of results. If he does that it would hand the initative to WHU on a plate.

There are a lot of flaky comments on here about Saturday. It appears to me that not many if any are ex footballers with the exposure to critical games at any level. I was lucky that the players/teams I was involved in had an inner steel core that came out on the critical occasions. Never mind the variables, do we have the inner steel core? Yes we do and it will take us through on Saturday. Will it be a walkover? No bloody way, we will have to battle to impose our quality and we will. It is the way that good teams impose themselves, fight for the right to play. I'm not sure we need the strollers, ie. Schneiderlin and Guly on Saturday. I'd stick with the midfield with DeRidder's pace down the right. Richardson or Butterfield, Richardson was poor after his injury and Butterfield is steady. If DeRidder play Butterfield, If Guly maybe Richardson. One thing I do know we don't need to give silly free kicks away in range as McSheffrey is a bloody good free kick taker.

Maybe if we hadn't tried to pressure the referee and just left it to him he may have booked Hines. It was a lack of discipline that lost us the game, from Fonte, from Davis not resetting the wall after the ball was moved left, by the players who tried to bully the referee into a sending off.

Would WHU swop places with us? Too bloody right they would. We are in a marvelous position and it is in our own hands. The play offs are a tough arena, a one off against Coventry has got to be the easier option. Coventry won't roll over and won't have come to SMS to be humiliated. We treat them like difficult opponents and we will be alright. Give it 90 minutes of effort and application and we should win.

One thing I don't understand, today, the equaliser v Pompey, why do the defenders not under great pressure just head the ball out straight instead of diagonally towards the touchlines. Hoiveldt could easily have headed the ball wide today, instead it dropped straight in front of the centre of the goal. The other thing is the number of attacking headers we head up at the crossbar rather than downwards.

Fonte does this all the time. He had no need to challenge as Butterfield had the ball covered. It was just stupid. As for the free kick the wall was distracted and as the argument was going on Zammama was moving the ball to the left and Davis should have reset the wall to the final ball position. Fonte has been sub standard all season, this constant holding is a nonsense and detracts from his ability to defend. He needs to take a step back and challenge for the header or position for a challenge and stop giving stupid fouls away in dangerous positions. Against Reading for the third goal instead of heading the ball away he tried to hold the nippy Le Fondre off and missed the ball and the man. A chance missed to kill it off and the referee bottled Hines second booking. Beat Coventry and it's done. Might even get done Monday night.

A close mate has a friend in the Police who thought that there just wasn't the evidence to convict but the CPS pressed ahead regardless.

The midfield seems to be doing fine, three good footballing displays despite being mugged by Reading.