It's looking bleak

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and the performance at Hull would have convinced Mr. Pearson that his priority was strengthening the defence: Chris Perry and Chris Lucketti have been acquired, with the former coming into the side for the defeat at Cardiff. But conventional wisdom has it that with a solid defence you don't get into trouble, but you need to score goals to get out of it.

After this latest setback, the team hasn't found the net in three games and there have been few occasions when you could say that our strikers didn't have the luck. At Ninian Park we only had one man up front for most of the game, and Stern John did indeed come closest to scoring. That was just before he was given assistance from Wright-Phillips and Pericard, but Cardiff had more than enough back to block John's effort and anything else Saints could throw at them. Perry hadn't had much chance to acclimatise to the Championship when he gave away a needless 6th minute throw in, and then failed to track Thompson from the resulting play. A good low cross was matched by a confident finish from Parry, and Saints were again up against it.

Cardiff had F.A. Cup matters on their minds, so would have appreciated this lacklustre workout, but fans expected more from the team needing a win to stay in the Division from hell.

I don't think it's that the players aren't trying - indeed some may be trying too hard. However, they don't really know what they can do to change things... with this squad, I'm not sure I do either, and that probably goes for the coaching staff as well. Six of the starting XI were over 30, and apart from Hammill the others aged anything from 25 upwards. It does show.

LSSC Man of the Match: Jermaine Wright. Not a standout showing, but all in the car journey back to England selected him independently.

Nigel Pearson: "That was a missed opportunity for us as I thought we could come here and win.

"I have a lot of positives to take out of this game and can look forward to our next match with a little more confidence but we have to take our chances and cannot make any excuses for the defeat."

Cardiff: Enckelman, Capaldi, Loovens, Johnson, Ramsey, Rae, Whittingham (Sinclair 70), McPhail, Ledley, Thompson (Scimeca 90), Parry.
Subs Not Used: Oakes, Purse, Feeney.

Goals: Parry 6.

Southampton: Richard Wright, Thomas, Jermaine Wright, Vignal, Perry, Licka (Pericard 79), Hammill, Euell (Surman 77), Viafara (Wright-Phillips 60), Safri, John.
Subs Not Used: Davis, Ostlund.

Booked: Thomas.

Att: 12,955

Ref: Michael Jones (Cheshire).