Saints go down at Town

Thursday, November 29, 2007

With Dailly finally returning to West Ham, Viafara lined up at centre back against Ipswich, presumably on the grounds that anyone is preferable to Alan Bennett.

I'm not so sure; Viafara is not a natural in the position as he is not aware of situations as they develop. However, we did get to see plenty of a rather comical foot-stomping tantrum whenever a free kick was given against him, usually because of an over-eager first half linesman.

One such incident led to a very unfortunate first Ipswich goal, with TV showing that Clark's shot took two deflections (the last off Walters) before finally beating Davis's despairing dive. Southampton nearly equalised at the beginning of the second period but Wright-Phillips' shot was too close to Alexander, who nevertheless was forced into a fine save.

The turning point in both side’s fortunes came after 50 minutes when Hammill's lob was close to perfection, but the ball bounced back into play off the inside of the post. After that Saints were let down by a combination of Wright-Phillips' poor touch and poor delivery to the strikers by just about anyone you care to mention.

Town added a second from another free kick against Viafara when Counago headed home, but again with a suspicion that someone might have had another touch before the ball went past Davis. That was more than enough to secure a 12th successive Ipswich home win, so there was no disgrace suffered on this away trip, but all in all it was a night about as miserable as the gloomy weather. Even the local beer was a bit below the standard we've come to expect at our favoured hostelries.

LSSC Man of the Match: Youssef Safri, whose Norwich background attracted surprisingly little attention.

George Burley: "We have a long list of injuries - we are short at the back with three of our centre-halves and two full-backs ruled out, but that's life.

"The first goal was all-important and they scored with a deflection. We had chances at 1-0, but didn't take them.

"We passed the ball well at times, but when things are not going well for you you get punished."

Ipswich: Alexander, Wright, Bruce, De Vos, Harding, Walters, Miller (Legwinski 90), Garvan (Williams 67), Clarke (Haynes 85), Counago, Lee.
Subs Not Used: Supple, Wilnis.

Booked: Clarke.

Goals: Walters 34, Counago 69.

Southampton: Davis, Ifil, Viafara, Davies, Skacel, Hammill, Safri, Euell (Saganowski 87), Surman (Wright 87), Wright-Phillips, John (Rasiak 74).
Subs Not Used: Bialkowski, Bennett.

Booked: Viafara.

Att: 19,791

Ref: Grant Hegley (Hertfordshire).