London Saints

Norwich Home FA Cup 3rd Round Replay Won 1 – 0

Both Southampton and Norwich made wholesale changes to their League line-ups for their F.A. Cup replay, which came as no surprise to anyone, certainly not those who stayed away from a meagre crowd. Those who did turn up showed little vocal interest in the proceedings, and with the Kingsland Stand closed, there was a ‘youth team’ feel to an atmosphere that was only created in the opening period by some occasional half-hearted support for the visitors. Of course a bit of action on the pitch would have helped things along but as there was none in the first 45 minutes, we’ll gloss over them. Saints at least bucked up a bit after the break, and even came close to scoring a goal – or at least Norwich did when Pinto turned Sims’ low cross just past the post. Things then slipped back into square- or back- pass mode until Redmond replaced Rodriguez to make the left flank quite dangerous, with McQueen now more or less operating as a winger. Sims, on the other wing, missed a chance to lob into an open net when Long lured McGovern out of his goal and when the keeper saved from Redmond, the dreaded prospect of extra time loomed. It was hard to see what Norwich’s game plan was, other than to hope for penalties which at least would have given Harry Lewis some action, but they were to be undone in the three minutes’ added time: Redmond set up McQueen for a cross from right on the by-line and Long looked certain to score with his header – in keeping with the game, he put it too close to McGovern, but the ball fell for him to bundle in the rebound from the keeper’s hand. You do rather suspect that even the Canaries fans were relieved to be going home early from such dismal ‘entertainment.’

LSSC Man of the Match: Jordi Clasie, who must have been surprised by his colleagues’ lack of passing technique.

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