Printer-friendly pageSunday, February 18, 2007
Saints had to beat Barnsley if they were to be considered as serious promotion candidates, but within two minutes we were looking for a goal just to rescue a point. Nardiello profited from some early sloppy defending, but it wasn't to be long before Surman fired home the loose ball after a corner.
A couple of saves by Colgan sandwiched a bad miss by Saganowski, but the defence was displaying a worrying faith in the abilities of Championship officials and their own self discipline when playing an ambitious offside trap.
Jones eased the way forward with a header early in the second half but Barnsley probably surprised themselves with a well worked equaliser scored by Ferenczi. But happily Ferenczi also marked his English debut by handling at the other end, an offence spotted by most of the crowd, and the assistant - if not referee Thorpe. Goalkeeper Colgan and his manager couldn't have seen it either, with the former cautioned before Jones scored from the spot, and the latter dismissed immediately afterwards.
Nardiello also left the game early after an off-the-ball incident with Baird, and then Wright-Phillips set up Surman to seal the points with the best goal of the match. Saints belatedly won a second penalty for handball, but it may have been better had they not. Surman got to the ball first, and refused to release it to substitute Rasiak and it looked as though a chase would ensue before Wright intervened for Surman to get permanent possession with his hat trick.
I'm with Rasiak on this one; penalties are his job and we'd have expected him to step forward had it been a pressure kick. Besides, Rasiak needs a goal, especially at home, more than Surman needs a ball.
Man of the Match: Kenwyne Jones. A close thing between him and Surman, but I didn't think much of that nonsense with the second penalty.
