The season is up and running!

Bristol Rovers 0, Saints 4
Saints’ first away game of the season, at Bristol Rovers, meant a competitive match debut for their dismal black kit, without even a sponsor’s logo to brighten the gloom.
Quite why we hired Pol Pot’s favourite clothes designer is beyond me, but at least we had a bright display from an unchanged team. That meant Martin partnering Fonte at the back, and Fonte got us on our way with a close range finish from a corner. It wasn’t a classic goal, and neither was the second, with Hammond’s mis-hit shot falling perfectly in the path of Lallana.
It was the least Saints deserved from a dominant first half, but it had taken a fine save from Davis to keep us ahead. Any fears that the Gas might raise their game playing down the considerable Memorial Ground slope were allayed when Barnard was clattered from behind and Lambert converted the resulting penalty.
Sawyer did clip the bar from a free kick, but this was a clear opportunity for Guly (a.k.a. Do Prado, according to his shirt) make his debut off the bench. In fact it was a surprise that Mr. Pardew waited until 84 minutes for this, but we had used a substitution quite early when Lallana, worryingly, limped off. A fourth goal in added time was scored by Barnard; just reward for a hard working afternoon.

LSSC Man of the Match: Lee Barnard. A clear winner amongst LSSC members, but most were at pains to point out that it had been a solid team performance throughout. That was the most positive thing from this excellent result: things must be on the up, what can possibly go wrong?

01 Davis
03 Harding
06 Fonte
12 Butterfield
17 Aaron Martin
04 Schneiderlin (Guilherme Do Prado 85)
10 Puncheon
14 Hammond
20 Lallana (Dickson 47)
07 Lambert (Connolly 79)
09 Barnard

Att. 8,226