Printer-friendly pageTuesday, November 6, 2007
Euell had recovered from injury to play against Wolves at home, but Idiakez hadn't: still it was about time we had another shake-up so Davies made his first Saints start in his preferred position of centre back, thus allowing both Dailly and Viafara to play in midfield, while Skacel returned at full back. Up front, John was still suffering from concussion so Rasiak started.
Rasiak has been around at this level long enough to know what sort of defenders to expect... and long enough to know what he can do to avoid them: watch how he drops off the defender's shoulder just before the challenge, giving the illusion that he's trying to get the ball but always failing to do so. Sorry to single out an individual player, but in all honesty there was little else of note going on in the first half, except for an indirect free kick under the backpass rule that Saints never looked like executing effectively.
Things improved immediately after the break with Rasiak forcing a save from Hennessey before Euell headed across goal and Wright-Phillips looked certain to score, only for Craddock to clear. The game soon settled back to a series of midfield jousts until finally giving us an enlivened last few minutes, during which time Surman would have been better advised to shoot instead of passing across goal.
A late winner wouldn't have been deserved, but at least this time the visitors didn't deserve the win either. And a clean sheet and solid game for Davies on full debut, but that lack of pace was once again evident.
LSSC Man of the Match: Kelvin Davis. This has the endorsement of Chairman Strickland, so no arguments allowed.
Southampton: Davis, Ifil, Thomas, Dailly, Davies, Dyer (Surman 56), Euell, Viafara, Skacel, Wright-Phillips (Hammill 80), Rasiak (Saganowski 64).
Subs Not Used: Bialkowski, Idiakez.
Wolverhampton: Hennessey, Foley, Darren Ward, Craddock, Neill Collins, Kightly (Jarvis 72), Olofinjana, Henry, Stephen Ward (Potter 77), Keogh (Bothroyd 82), Eastwood.
Subs Not Used: Stack, Little.
Booked: Neill Collins.
Att: 19,856
Ref: Darren Deadman (Cambridgeshire).
