London Saints

Saints too much for Posh

Saints 4, Peterborough 1

After a couple of heavy league defeats, Peterborough may almost have been looking forward to a road trip – just their luck that they ran into a Southampton team about to show their best home form of the season so far.
Barnard returned, which is a help, and the imaginative formation that failed to result in Carlisle’s downfall was replaced by something less complex involving an all-action approach from Hammond and Chaplow, rather than Schneiderlin’s Gallic sophistication.
Whatever the explanation, something clicked. Saints were out of the blocks swiftly and Lewis made an excellent save from Lallana, one of several early close calls before Davis had to rescue Saints at the other end with still only 10 minutes on the clock. After 27, the home team took the lead with a terrific 20 yard strike from Barnard that Lambert would have been proud of.
Posh managed to keep the scoreline respectable until half time, but Fonte headed home a Dickson cross just after the break, with the visitors seemingly not aggrieved by more than a hint of a push.
We only had to wait another couple of minutes for the best moment of the afternoon, when Chaplow volleyed in Hammond’s low cross; the midfielder clearly at his best in front of goal when he doesn’t have time to think about what he’s going to do. A period of consolidation was understandable, but the ‘solid’ element was missing when McLean was allowed to run through and reduce the deficit. No matter; Do Prado‘s disappointment after another fine save from Lewis was shortlived as he headed in Holmes’ cross for Southampton’s 4th in the 80th minute. He should have scored a 5th as well, following great work by Holmes (whose form off the bench was a revelation), but an un-Brazilian-like finish sent the ball wide.

LSSC Man of the Match: Richard Chaplow. I was inclined towards Barnard, but he was substituted after the third goal – and probably not best pleased about it, given Peterborough defensive frailty.

01 Davis
02 Richardson
05 Dickson
06 Fonte
15 Jaidi
14 Hammond
20 Lallana
26 Oxlade-Chamberlain (Holmes 70)
30 Chaplow
07 Lambert (Connolly 82)
09 Barnard (Guly 51)

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