Saints 2 Barnsley 3

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Typical, you wait nearly a month for a home game, then two come along in less than 3 days. Inevitably injury prone Saints had picked up knocks so Hammill made his first start instead of Dyer, while loan signing Dailly came in before he'd got on Christian name (geddit?) terms with his new mates.

We expected one-way traffic against Barnsley and it was indeed against the run of play when the visitors took a 27th minute lead from McCann's free kick. But things got really serious when the same player repeated the trick some 10 minutes later, even though Wright-Phillips had hit the post in between. Hammill also found time to strike the woodwork before the break, but Saganowski eventually pulled one back when he guided in Wright-Phillips' cross shot in injury time.

So still plenty of hope for a comeback win, but few greeted the introduction of John with much of a cheer and he soon missed badly after good work from Hammill. Nevertheless Barnsley lost the influential Werling for a second booking so the odds against an away win lengthened again. T

hey had dropped back by the time 90 minutes were up, but the announcement of a whole 6 minutes of added time was met with an equaliser from Idiakez after a cross from Hammill. 5 and a half minutes to force a win, but Barnsley only needed 30 seconds of them as Saints forgot they were now defending with only three at the back and when Devaney shot from the right, Davis could only parry the ball back for him to head the winner.

At this point words fail me...

LSSC Man of the Match: Adam Hammill. There are rumours that this player's attitude leaves something to be desired, and he did look to be playing for himself as much as the team, but he has plenty of potential.

Southampton: Davis, Wright (Idiakez 81), Thomas, Dailly, Vignal, Hammill, Viafara, Safri, Surman, Saganowski (Rasiak 69), Wright-Phillips (John 46).
Subs Not Used: Bialkowski, Makin.

Booked: Safri.

Goals: Saganowski 45, Idiakez 90.

Barnsley: Muller, Nyatanga, Souza, Foster, Werling, Campbell-Ryce (Devaney 74), De Silva (Reid 90), Howard, McCann, Ferenczi (Togwell 66), Odejayi.
Subs Not Used: Colgan, Mostto.

Sent Off: Werling (70).

Booked: Werling, Howard, Campbell-Ryce, De Silva, Devaney.

Goals: McCann 27, 40, Devaney 90.

Att: 19,151.

Ref: Michael Jones (Cheshire).