Printer-friendly pageSunday, January 27, 2008
The storyline has been drifting in the last few weeks, but the SFC soap opera returned to form with Mr. Burley's departure. In true soap style, it did stretch credibility a bit - I mean, could Graeme Souness' interview technique really have been that bad? I sense that George was running out of supporters anyway, with increasingly baffling team selections matched by ineffective on-pitch tactics. Personally I think that the club is still trying to recover from his disastrous spending spree in the summer of '06 with £7million dished out but only Davis and Viafara managing to be regular starters - and they've both served time on the bench. The Scots will have a nasty surprise when they find Jock Idiakez and Rudi McSkacel discovering Caledonian grandparents.
Caretaker managers Dodd and Gorman would have been expecting a winning start in the Cup fixture against Bury, but the visitors could easily have been the first to score; Baker's free kick was foiled by a mixture of goalkeeper and post, and then the same player failed to beat Davis when set clear. However, Saints enjoyed most of the possession but again struggled to create enough dangerous situations. Davies failed to appear for the second half and was replaced by Idiakez, with Wright moving to full back. This should have given us more creative options, but it isn't easy to recall much impact, and indeed Saints had to regroup again when Powell limped off, to nobody's great surprise. That left us with a less than first choice back four of Wright, Thomas, Euell and Vignal, but the chaps at the other end did the business with Surman firing home after 71 minutes - by his own admission, the shot was heading towards the corner flag before a deflection, although it was difficult to detect it from the Kingsland Stand.
Bury pushed their big centre half up front, and he caused enough confusion for Bishop to head against the bar from a corner. It could have been a difficult ending to the match, but referee Attwell saw enough to award Saints a soft penalty. Rasiak promptly lost his 100% record from the spot, but he remained composed enough to have another go from the rebound. Still goalkeeper Provett managed to deny him, but Rasiak was the only one left standing and finally managed to force the ball home.
Untidy but sufficient, with Bury seeming to realise that they didn't have the fire power to pull two back.
LSSC Man of the Match: Andrew Surman. Deflection or not, it was Surman who prevented a tricky (and expensive) midweek trip to Gigg Lane.
Southampton Davis, Thomas, Powell (Skacel 64), Davies (Idiakez 46), Vignal, Hammill (John 76), Euell, Wright, Surman, Wright-Phillips, Rasiak.
Subs Not Used: Bialkowski, Saganowski.
Goals: Surman 71, Rasiak 80.
Bury Provett, Haslam, Futcher, Scott, Woodthorpe, Stephens, Baker, Barry-Murphy (Mangan 81), Buchanan (Dorney 85), Bishop, Adams.
Subs Not Used: Challinor, Hurst, Anane.
Att: 25,449
Ref: Stuart Attwell (Warwickshire).
