Printer-friendly pageMonday, October 2, 2006
Idiakez and Belmadi were unavailable for the visit of QPR, and that led to a larger re-organisation that included a return for Bale. For a fixture like this, our squad ought to cope anyway, and things were going well once Wright's deflected shot went past Paul Jones. Jones did go down like a sack of coal, but by the end of the afternoon we were wishing he was back in our goal.
Saints were well on top, although Davis had to save after Bale went missing somewhere, and a few others also switched off when Blackstock headed an equaliser on 33 minutes. A setback, but not a disaster and certainly no surprise that Dexter should score.
A real calamity occurred when Davis attempted to shepherd a loose ball over the deadball line. The ball stopped early, Davis panicked and Ray Jones scored despite being stuck somewhere near the corner flag. This could be the worse piece of goalkeeping we've had at St. Mary's, including that through-his-legs incident against Preston. Kelvin has only been with us a couple of months but he's already re-writing his own entries in the stadium's Black History!
Southampton's efforts to get back on terms were hugely disappointing to a big crowd, while Rangers now had something to defend, as well as a new manager to impress. I don't think our own management helped a great deal as they threw on substitutes. We finished with something like a 4-1-5 formation with Viafara at the back and Licka as short of allies in midfield as he was short of match fitness. A bit of a mess all round.
Man of the Match: Chris Baird, but it doesn't mean he had much to be proud of. It also means Pele gets all the blame for losing Blackstock and I'm not convinced Baird doesn't have a case to answer.
