Printer-friendly pageSaturday, January 13, 2007
How much impact did Burnley's signing of Ade Akinbiyi have on Saints' team selection? Despite recent surgery and the lack of a protective face mask, Lundekvam returned and so did not miss any league games through his injury (other players please note!). But did we decide to play Powell and move Baird to right back to protect Claus from the physical menace of Akinbiyi? Whatever the reason, this, together with Skacel's injury, meant an unbalanced looking side and one which was difficult to adjust when the team desperately needed to offer something different to break down a stubborn defence.
Ostlund's determined runs were missed, but we couldn't take Baird off because of worries about Lundekvam. McGoldrick's first team exposure to playing wide on the left was limited to 90 minutes at Torquay, but the only replacement could have been Lallana; Skacel's experience in front of Bale was badly missed.
Licka has looked OK on occasions but here he struggled to provide anything incisive. This time there was a suitable replacement but Viafara remained firmly on the bench, and the only substitution was Wright-Phillips for Jones at half time.
Saints dominated possession but created very little. A penalty for a trip on Licka looked an easy decision, but maybe referee Bates was in no mood to be generous after Rasiak's dive shortly beforehand. With Bale failing to trouble Pollitt from several efforts from outside the box, there wasn't much likelihood of a goal otherwise.
Man of the Match: Gareth Bale. He didn't have his shooting boots on, though - unless I misunderstood the so-called half time entertainment, the club seem to have raffled them!
