ottery st mary

Wonderful news and very best wishes to the whole family. Glad to hear Saints are in with their help. Let us hope Saints get a win and the fans lift the roof off. Will continue with my prayers for all concerned.

Wotton will not let us down in either position and certainly whatever anyone else says, made hell of a difference when moving to the back line vs Exeter.

Surman v Exeter looked sound and forming a good partnership with the Winger Holmes. He becomes a major threat going forward and his defending is definitely improving. In my opinion he is far superior, already, to the likes of Wright, Makin, Vignal, Brennan and will have to stay on top of his game as Mills is a star Left Back waiting to happen. As with James and Hatch on the right please don't waste the money as these boys are as good as any I have seen. Having said that as I have said a few times on this forum the No.3 of Exeter George Friend is an emerging star who can play,centre back as well.. I've seen him play quite a few times including Wembley Play Off Final and he will soon be at CCC level, Another is the centre Back Daniel Seaborne.as I thought about Mackie who went to Argyle from Exeter. I am sure the Saints coaching staff know what they are doing regards all these young players. Onwards and upwards.

I was definitely at the game and can tell you this was NOT a convincing win. First half Exeter had four or five very clear cut chances that most CCC teams would have put away. Many of the Saints fans with me behind the goal will tell you the same. General statement was Both sides are of equal status and very hard to tell the different league positions. It is quite clear that Saints have a long way to go and that started in the second half particularly with the wise decision to put Wotton back in defence and Spiderman reverting to his mid field position. The other main change that meant Exeter were not going to have such an easy ride was the substitution when an experienced/wily proper centre forward ie John came on and played the role required and thereafter Mighty Mac was able to link with John/Lallana and Holmes and put serious pressure on Exeter and gradually took the game away from them. I am still an advocate of the youth and believe we should have had gradual intoduction of many of them last season. But they will get better and skin some teams but you will need John, Wotton, Perry,Svennson AND Davies. I also think we will need Davis whilst Bart gains confidence.. But how and when is the question as he cmade some great saves and some very nervous times. We will get there but with gradual improvement overall with youth and experience as most of the youth deseve their place. The right mixture and we will do well. To be fair class told in the end particularly Lallana, Macs goal scoring ability and John for his experience etc. exeter paper comments Express and Echo Aug 13th. Exeter brave showing.The Grecians were the better side in the first half. Southampton came out brighter in the second. Steve Perryman commented.Of course we were up against a classy, young and vibrant team who were quick on the break against us. After the break they had that bit of zip and power and purpose with their running. He further stated,You have just got to look at how decent their wide men were.

To be honest most of our/if not all throw ins were rubbish tonight more work required. Let us get home games for revenue and more games for team building. Sod it lets go all the way to the final.

He is a very very good player in middle but not at the back where he played first half tonight. Second back in the middle with Gillet and Lallana in front of them things started to happen. I think he will be a big player for us.

The team/coaches and a good turn out of fans were there and that is more important than one or two directors who most of us behind the goal would not have a clue if the two chairmen were there or not. We have a very good side who will only get better and is much better than many of the games I saw last season. Let us get with the team but a few prayers are still needed.

There is no doubt in full flow we are going to be a good side and hard to stop. Bart needs to gain confidence which only games will do. Having said that he made some very good saves. Forecast was on the bench and apart from the warm up with Webster hard to tell. James and Surman worked very hard and both improved as the game wore on. Spiderman as stated ..not at the back but back in the middle. Perry has the experience and the reading of the game but as with Wotton in the second half needs the big centre half to attack the ball.. Wotton is good to have around as he is strong and versatile middle or at the back. Made first goal for Holmes. Gillet never stopped working/grafting but better with Spiderman in the second half when we started to put many more moves together. Thomson is good and will get better but not his night attacking really but with Dyer we have options and like Dyer on his day will roast some defenders. Lallana had a quiet first but came into his own second working very hard and soooo good on the ball. TOP MAN. Mac as discussed with John in some games, good to have both around. He scored a very good goal running at the defence and tucking it away and also gained the pen which he took very well. As stated would keep John as he has that old fashion centre forward thing and did seem up for it. The centre backs new about it when he came on. Holmes to me is an old fashioned winger wide with good ball control dribbling etc and like many of the others will get better. In fact the whole side is a very good team at times but with certain areas requiring a bit more polish.

Re above playing Mac at Centre Forward is like playing Chivers/Channon there without a strong real centre forward. Mac will score more goals from joint striker or coming from the right and attacking the defence. Spiderman was like playing Pele at centre back much better in the middle.

We played very well in patches but allowed Exeter at times to play too much. Some of the youngsters are very good on the play and some great interplay with triangles etc. but we lack experience which obviously will come. Two main points to highlight that are Spiderman and Mighy Mac who are both very good and will only get better. Spiderman played centre Back first half and lacked guile/strength experience of handling strong strikers. He played much better second when returning to his role with Gillett in the middle. Wotton at centre Back showed how it should be done. Mac was centre Forward until the second half when he moved over and John showed how to play the role holding up the ball taking the battering and still laying off. Mac plays much better coming forwards with the ball as his very good goal showed. I will sit down and reel out a quick summary of the game and the players give me 5.

Just back from the game and all I can say about tonight is a win is a win. Saints as usual made hard work of it in the first half but gave a far better performance second. Spiderman is not a centre Back and was much better second when he returned to mid field. Wotton playing at the back tightened things up and was able to deal with the strikers with more guile and experience of the English game. The same could be said of John as a centre Forward he knows how to deal with the centre Backs whereas Mighty Mac was better coming at the defence with the ball at his feet. As he proved with a very ggod goal and also getting the pen which he took and wouldn't allow John or Surman the chance.. Well taken pen by Mac.

Just back from the game and behind the goal in question. He himself was going down the right of the penalty area when he was brought down. He held onto that ball for dear life refusing first John then Surman and then Wotton. But give him his due he had the confidence to place a very good pen into the corner. His first goal was very very good as well.

My daughters caught me looking at your avatar and made certain noises about my good wife when she gets home ie telling their mother. For the moment I have convinced them that you are a very highly intelligent poster and that someone planted the avatar on you. I don't know how long they will stay convinced as they have asked to look at some of your previous posts. PS A brilliant avatar by the way EXCELLENT.

I think he went to Pompey recently.

The sun is out and hopefully the pitch will now dry out for tonight and knowing the Exeter team should be a good game with The mighty Saints winning 4-1.

Just come from a supporters club meeting and this was put to the floor and I have the result of the vote if it helps you GM. fOUR attended and asked If you Hate Mr Lowe. Me......Heard of him, but don't care and not my cup of tea. Wifey....Not heard of him, does not care and asked what position he played. Daughter 1....Not heard of him and asked, when she could meet Andrew Surman again.Picture on wall etc having met him previously 15 years of age and all that. Daughter 2...Not heard of him and asked, did he play when we saw Sheff. Utd.Much younger and still wondering if the Police are looking for us for running on pitch after that game. To be fair that is in truth really only 3 out of four as supporters, but at a guess a fair cross section of the sort of response from most supporters. Hope to see you at the game GM. By the way you were a half decent player in your younger days but was a long time ago.

Hoping the weather does not prevent the game going ahead. The pitch does have problems with drainage and we have had more than our fair share of rain down here in sunny Devon, to-day and the past few weeks. But hopefully the sun will shine through this afternoon.

Fair comment, he did a ggod job and can only hope that the Football Chairman does a good job this time round whilst Mr Lowe concentrates on getting the money side sorted.

Is he off to Palace as his WAGES ARE EXCESSIVE FOR A TRAINEE. White,Patterson,Lallana,Thomson and Dyer more than fill his position. Just my opinion.

Let us hope if that is the case they let us have a few more and pay there wages at the same time. Not to the detriment of our own youth players though.

I have always thought you were one of the best at it, so get back to it.

Originally thought it was a deal with Liverpool but subsequently came to the opinion it is for Arsenal. The connection with Wenger and Strasbourg and Mr Lowe with Arsenal. BUT, whatever whilst he is at Saints, we can only rejoice as he is a great young player who will only get better and that must suit us.

YES. See you at the game tonight AND put some money in the charity box when it comes round.

Pity we let him go and a pity we did not get him back. Always thought he would be a great centre back and still think the same. But now let us bring Lancashire and Racine through to supplement Davies, Svennson ,Perry and Wootton.

Mr Lowe did not start the very good youth policy that has been with Saints for many years. He had to implement a system to comply with the directions policies laid down by the FA/league etc. Any other Chairman in the Chair at the time would have done the same with some propably better and others not so. But the Youth systems/scouting etc have naturally improved over the years. As some state it is the position we now find ourselves in that dictates to a certain degree the way we have gone. I do not know Mr Lowe or Mr Wilde and as with all Directors do not care. Accepting they have a club to run let us hope whatever they are doing is for the club and not just for themselves and they hand it onto the right people when the day comes.