Printer-friendly pageSunday, April 13, 2008
Not surprisingly, following their performance against Bristol City, Saints only replaced the injured Vignal from the starting line up for the game at Charlton. That meant Richard Wright continuing in goal, despite Davis now being fit, whereas Charlton were forced to opt for youth in that department after Weaver had been sent off the previous week.
That worked well for Southampton: stand-in Randolph kept out an Idiakez free kick but after Saints kept the ball alive he was faced with a routine gather. What happened next was bizarre, and congratulations to those amongst our followers who managed to work it out before the next day's TV. It seems that Randolph caught the ball cleanly enough, but then managed to bring it down on top of the head of his own team-mate, McCarthy. The ball ended up in the back of the net, and the unfortunate McCarthy will have to be credited with an own goal.
You'd have thought Saints would have profited from putting more pressure on young Randolph but it was difficult for our midfield and attack to do very much at all that would relieve the pressure on the defence. That may be because of the uncomplicated way Lucketti and Perry deal with their clearances, but these guys were looking unshakeable, aided by some timely dashes off his line by 'keeper Wright and solid performances from Wright the full back and Surman the emergency full back.
It wasn't until 69 minutes that the yellow wall was breached, with Gray heading in a free kick from near the corner flag - a rather soft equaliser after so much dogged defending. However, Saints were thankful to Richard Wright for preserving the status quo, and to Charlton who failed to execute a number of set pieces from the edge of the box nearly as well as the one that gave them their goal.
LSSC Man of the Match: Richard Wright, to confound those who suggested I wouldn't abide by the democratic decision. The save he made from Ambrose probably swung it his way.
Nigel Pearson:"Alan might think they should have won but I thought we deserved something out of the game.
"It was two sides doing all they could to get the win. It was a pretty committed game from both sides, my team have had a real go and I can't criticise them.
"It's another point which edges us closer but there is still lots of work to be done."
Charlton: Randolph, Halford, Bougherra, McCarthy, Thatcher, Zhi (Thomas 78), Semedo (Ambrose 46), Holland, Cook, Iwelumo (Gray 46), Lita.
Subs Not Used: Elliot, Varney.
Booked: Semedo, Bougherra.
Goals: Gray 69.
Southampton: Richard Wright, Jermaine Wright, Perry, Lucketti, Surman, Idiakez (Viafara 70), Euell, Safri, Licka, John (Pericard 79), Wright-Phillips (Saganowski 75).
Subs Not Used: Davis, Powell.
Booked: Jermaine Wright, Wright-Phillips, Perry.
Goals: McCarthy 11 og.
Att: 26,206
Ref: Andy Hall (W Midlands).
