Vancouver Saint

OMG that was brilliant - live texting my Arsenal-supporting friend watching from the other side of Vancouver - and meeting up for darts tonight after the Canucks game...beers on me and happy to oblige! Sounded like a fantastic atmosphere. Now to hammer Wrexham please.

A great result for sure - but a very nervy second half. Can't understand why we back off the man with the ball so much we allow their centre back to carry the ball right into our last third of the pitch. We almost threw that away at the end and won't get so lucky using that tactic again I feel. We lost a lot of bite when Downes went off. Surprised we didn't substitute Larin for the last 10 minutes or so - he was spent. We needed more energy in midfield. Great goal by Azaz and happy with the victory more than the performance. I love Peretz - that's 6 points from the last two games he's helped preserve...although his gamesmanship shenanigans almost back-fired in the extra time on top of extra time.

Need to watch out for Ali Ahmed - he joined Norwich from our Vancouver Whitecaps so I've seen him play many times. He's a very skillful wide player with a turn of pace, good control of the ball and knows where the goal is. better than Edozie and Fellows IMHO. Full Canadian International alongside Larin and well-deserving of it...shame we didn't get him.

Should be a really good game. They' are on an amazing run of form but so are we. We have the best home form atm - they are 4th in away form. Althought this has a draw written all over it, I think we'll reverse the score from the away fixture: 2-1 to the Saints.

What a result! Only caught the last four minutes of extra time but saw our goals in the after-match report - did we deserve it? Cameron Archer on the pitch? Looked like Peretz won us our points - what's it like having a goalkeeper eh!

Not sure about this one...not sure at all. Thought we were pretty crap against West Brom but think we might, might just play up to Coventry in this game... My problem is we can't do the basics like defend corners and take throw-ins to our own players...I can't see Coventry having less than 13 corners so unless we get 36 corners ourselves....

Oh man...just needed another 5 mins...West Brom were totally spent - but they were totally up for it today, didn't look like a team in the relegation zone. Can't say a draw wasn't a fair result tbh. Thought we looked a bit lightweight and still too ponderous passing around the back. They totally sussed out our playing out from the back, especially our right side and pressed us high every time. Larin looks better and better every time I see him - great strength, hold-up ability and target for headers - great goal to equalise. Think we might look back at this as a point well won and an unbeaten streak maintained.

Another bloody mid-day kick off - really not worth getting up at 4.00 am in the morning for - is there really no consideration for us Saints fans in the Pacific Time zone? - come on Football Association sort yourselves out! Oh and I'm pretty sure we'll go hybrid...semi rotation to give players a run-out with some first teamers on the bench to try to pull back a 2-0 deficit with half an hour to play. But knowing I'm not watching it, let's call it now - a 4-3 thriller with us coming back from 3-0 down in the first half to win in the sixth minute of extra time. Call me lightning.

Well, what will be put down as a routine win with us not getting out of second gear for most of the match - but I never felt we'd 'put the game to bed'. Even at the end we invite pressure and we're still bad at defending corners, so why risk conceding so many? Archer, I mean how many more chances is he given ahead of someone else? It was like bringing an extra defender for Wednesday - his main contribution was to block Scienza's almost certain goal!

Err um yes of course...felt like a loss given the possession we had. Too ponderous. Extra time showed the urgency we should have had from the outset.

We lost that because we can't defend. We always knew we'd need that second goal didn't we...

Well a good win in the end despite the 'we couldn't show more we don't care about this game' selection - Saints Young Boys beat Leicester's old boys. Leicester must really be sick of the sight of us - gotta love it! Positives - Edozie, Bragg, Larin, pretty much all the youngsters that cam on gave a good account of themselves. Jelert grew into the game before going off. Romeo got some decent minutes in without incident and one great goal-saving tackle. Negatives - Archer, seriously, what a waste of a shirt - what has happened to him? George Long less than convincing, Quarshie and Woods showing why they are second-stringers with lots of mistakes better sides would have punished.

OMG - did that just happen?!

Only saw the last 15 minutes...was nervy conceding corners but for once we held firm. I did say give Larin the benefit of the doubt - he's played really well for Canada in the past. He looked fitter and better than I expected with a good touch - but I guess he's only been on for a few minutes. It makes such a difference to have a goalkeeper!

Let's give him a chance for goodness sake. He had a good spell in the Canadian national team a while back...he has a physical presence and fits that 'big striker target' description which is clearly the new strategy (that being going forward and putting crosses into the box to someone tall enough to head it.