eelpie

With half the effort

Just discovered the London Borough of John Sydenham was in Southampton

That's for the Sports Science lectures.

Well said Alps. I would not wish to be promoted on the back of the demise of Plymouth Argyle FC. It would be a hollow promotion. Football means more to me than that. We should be supporting the Plymouth fans in this, and I truly wish them well.

Still here? Ok, 'could have' not could of'.

This thread is pedetentous (going nowhere slowly)

Listening to the moaners anyone would think we had lost two matches against Posh. We've taken four points off them and scored eight goals to their five, and never been behind. Our position in the table is not Posh's doing. It's crass performances against the bottom teams in this division. Entertainment value playing against Peterborough is 10/10, but it comes with a heck of a health warning.

Just got back from the game and what an incredible match. Frantic, fast end to end stuff in a heck of gale. It is ridiculous of anyone to blame the team or individuals for squandering a two goal league, because the wind made playing really, really difficult. But both teams threw themselves at each other with no quarter drawn. It was a skillful match and in truth a draw was a fair result, frustrating as it was. In the goalmouth melees at the far end it was difficult to see if the penalties were fair, and sight-lines at Posh's ground are poor. Make no mistake. Peterborough are VERY fast, direct and skillful, particularly Craig Mackail Smth, and if we don't go up, Our failure to buy him at any price will have much to do with it. He and the wind determined the outcome.

There used to be a convent and retirement home on the corner of Milton Road and Hill Lane which became a housing development in the late 80's/ early 90's I think, so the trees may be at the back of the convent. I think you can just see the chimneys of the convent far right. Interestingly, the area of The Dell got it's name because it was originally a narrow clearing in trees, I believe. A dell is usually in lower ground, but I can't quite work out if the surrounding area is higher. I know it's quite undulating in the surrounding streets. I'll have to have a look next time I'm in town. Anyone got any access to an early topographical map of the area?

Do you play darts?

What a relief. Played poorly first half and won. Our strikers really need to be more accurate in front of goal and need intensive training hitting small targets on the turn. But well done Lambo. You're fighting to recapture last years form and winning! Next week Exeter host Huddersfield. They should beat them!

Did they not beat us this season?

And last but not least.. Forecast to Eastbourne (on loan)

Very interesting analysis. So we were at fault in not defending in depth once Giggs and Nani came on, and levelled the score? But I think Nigel was thinking of the long term promotion strategy. So there was no point in settling for a draw, a result one way or the other had to be achieved. Better to go down fighting, give Chaplow a rest with Tuesday in mind and have a look at Ngessen. Good thinking in the circumstances.

Listen Nigel, he's MY referee, ok!

Not sure that Dany is going to make the difference. He's big and tough but didn't really get an opportunity to show what he can do. Will toughen up the squad, but my feeling is that he is not the goal scorer we need. My fear is that teams have wised up to Lambert, Barnard and Oxo, and know how to crowd them out. Now even more so. So we need someone like CMS who is hot scoring atmo. His club have turned down 1.5 mill but we have only offered one million. We have to get this man as he seems to be te only one available at the right price right now. Our rivals have strengthened where they need, and so must we. Otherwise I fear a succession of frustrating draws in the weeks ahead.

Last thought. Very proud of the whole team. BUT - if we had a sharpshooter like we had two of last year, we would have won. Glad we didn't though with the busy league programme in mind. However, we WON'T achieve promotion unless we sign one sharper, predatory striker. Spend the money this weekend Nicola!. You know it's true!

Exactly. The perfect result - because we have enough midweek away games to complete in the coming weeks to catch up with the League 1 leaders. A scintillating performance by the team and we only lost by one goal, scaring the sh*t out of United in the process. Key players sensibly subbed with Tuesdays match in mind -Which we must win! Because promotion is priority. And Brighton and Sheff Weds won -so they will have the extra matches to play now -not us! The cup is dead. Long live promotion!

The roots of Saints youth teams successes goes back even further - to Southampton Schools teams of the fifties, which won national cups and bred the likes of Terry Paine, John Sydenham and others - players who strengthened our last climb out of the Third Division. Respect to those days, to the kids on the Hampshire schools playing fields and to Ted Bates and others who made it happen.

As far as I know at this moment, Austin has not yet actually signed for Burnley, and there is not that much difference between our bid and Burnley's. Well worth upping the offer, Nicola (not that you'll be reading this) since Swindon site says Austin would prefer to play for Saints.

My own often repeated gripe with the ticket office, which is company policy, is that when league matches are cancelled and rearranged it is not possible to get a pro-rata refund if for any reason it is not possible to attend on the rearranged date. It should at least be possible to get a rebate against other non league matches like cup matches or even friendlies. In any other entertainment you can get refunds in similar situations, such as theatre tickets to mention one example. The club does need to look at this, in fairness to its ST holders.

Top scorer in league 1. How does that help us?

It is that we have three more aways, and they're mostly midweekers, to play than home games that will be the decider. If we travel better than last time we should just scrape 2nd. I'm expecting a revived Charlton to be our main competitor

That was then. Now BWP is a different, better and a more mature player. And he is hitting the net consistently. I would love him to be as bad when he plays against us as he was here. But I have a horrible feeling he is going to prove his detractors here wrong. And although I couldn't care less who hates him, I do care that we beat Charlton.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_2/default.stm And with two games against Charlton to play the Bradley rubbishers may have to eat their words (or not) -especially if he is the difference between Charlton or us being promoted. Significantly, our rivals are doing something about improving their squads, but we are not (yet). Hurry up, Nicola.