Saints undone by Cumbrians

Carlisle 3, Saints 2
The players emerged from the tunnel at Carlisle just before 3 p.m., but then we had to have that silly handshake thing, a photo-opportunity with the mascot, a minute’s silence for Remembrance Day, a change of ends and then the Southampton huddle.
We kicked off at 3:05 but it must have been nearly ten past before Saints got into the game. Once they’d done so, and got used to the idea of only one man up front (Lambert), they looked more than capable of winning the game. Lallana should have capped a fine move with something better than the shot comfortably saved by Collin.
In fact it was our defenders who let us down big time. What seemed nothing more than a hopeful punt downfield turned ugly for Saints when Madine was allowed to run on and free Marshall for the first goal. It looked as though Harding was culpable as well as the centre backs, having been sucked into the middle, but the replay failed to show Jaidi anywhere nearby at all.
Unfortunately Harding did not have an afternoon to remember, and his worst moment came when he stretched to prevent a cross reaching Marshall but only succeeded in sending the ball over Davis in a slow arc.
Just after the interval, Lallana got past his marker and crossed for Chamberlain to head in at the far post. This was an ideal start to the half, but what went wrong with a 59th minute corner is anyone’s guess; we do know the result, though, as Chester headed in a crucial third home goal.
Lambert was eventually joined by Barnard and Harding’s woe was complete when he had to make way for Dickson. Chaplow squandered a great chance to pull one back, but Saints eventually made it 2-3 when Collin appeared to jump out of the way of Hammond‘s powerful shot.
There were 15 minutes of playing time available, but Saints seemed more prone to panic than the home side, and the points were lost.

LSSC Man of the Match: Richard Chaplow. I thought this would be difficult but our travellers were nearly unanimous in their voting (andtherefore equally as forgiving of the midfielder’s miss).

01 Davis
02 Richardson
03 Harding (Dickson 61)
06 Fonte
15 Jaidi
04 Schneiderlin (Barnard 72)
14 Hammond
20 Lallana
26 Oxlade-Chamberlain
30 Chaplow
07 Lambert
Att: 6,578