WBA 1 Saints 1

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Pele was missing for the visit to in form West Brom, but Surman and Makin returned and Viafara was able to line up in centre midfield.

Crucially though, Jones was back up front and his early contribution should have had an affect on the rest of the match: as Jones broke clear, Davis brought him down from behind with no other defender in sight. The home players realised the gravity of the situation and surrounded referee Pike, who inexplicably wielded only a yellow card.

Jones extracted his revenge by finishing off some good work by Viafara and Rasiak to give Saints a 17th minute lead.

Robinson should have been booked for a bad challenge on Lundekvam, but Mr. Pike didn't even see a foul. He did see the mêlée that followed, and cautioned Robinson for a 'handbags' push on Davies - but it should have been red, had he also been cautioned for what everyone else saw as a foul. To cap it all, Albion equalised on the stroke of half time when Phillips, suspiciously close to offside, converted an ugly sort of goal. Southampton's ill humour was this time directed at controversial referee's assistant Amy Rayner, but TV shows her to have been correct - Bale was slow moving up.

The only dodgy patch for Saints was in the period either side of half time, and they finished strongly. A chance fell to Surman as ex-Skate Kiely parried Skacel's shot, but the keeper saved well second time around. He also saved well when Jones again burst clear, but this one was well outside the area. Once again, though, referee Pike showed his bravery by claiming the ball had come off Kiely's chest and this time TV replays did not exonerate the official. Stupid boy.

Man of the Match: Jhon Viafara, after another split vote amongst the travellers - or at least those who caught the scheduled train back.

Matchday quote #1: By a hitherto respected member of the club who suggested a close season LSSC outing to John P. F. C. Westwood's bookshop, where we would 'p*ss on his first editions.'

Matchday quote #2: By one Kevin Phillips, as he celebrated his goal. Within the bounds of decency, it is best described as 'F*** O**.' Worse still, it was aimed at the LSSC member with distinctive features befitting snowy Birmingham. There can have been few occasions in history where such language was directed at Father Christmas... and even fewer where Santa replied in kind.

Saints boss George Burley admitted he was "gutted" after his side failed to beat West Brom at the Hawthorns.

Burley's Saints outplayed West Brom for long periods and created the better chances but had to be content with a point after Kevin Phillips cancelled out Kenwyne Jones's 19th-minute strike on the stroke of half-time.

Former Saint Phillips scored despite a suspicion of offside and Burley's mood was not helped by the fact that West Brom finished the match with 11 men - when they could have had as many as three players sent off.

Last man Curtis Davies was only booked for a fifth-minute foul on Kenwyne Jones, and replays proved that Dean Kiely handled outside his area when he tried to close down the Trinidadian in the 75th minute.

Left back Paul Robinson was also fortunate just to receive a booking from referee Mike Pike for a push on Saints goalkeeper Davis in the first half.

Burley said: "Unfortunately you don't always get what you deserve but we were outstanding against very good side. We created numerous chances but there were decisions that the referee got wrong. I cannot believe that he didn't give handball against their goalkeeper. Everything happens very quickly but that wasn't even a hard decision.

"I've watched the video of the first incident and when Kenwyne was through on goal, there was no way anyone else was going to stop him."

Burley rated the performance as the best by Saints away from home this season.

He added: "We were very pleased with the manner of the performance. We weathered the early storm after half time, we passed the ball and got stronger and stronger as the match progressed. But we feel gutted and we're kicking ourselves for not getting three points."

Saints: Davis, Makin, Lundekvam, Baird, Bale, Surman, Viafara, Wright, Skacel, Jones, Rasiak (Saganowski)