London Saints

Coventry (and Trigger) sink

Southampton’s 5 point lead at the top of the division is reassuring, but we can’t rely on an awesome home record continuing to contribute so prominently. The team were without a Championship away win since August, but the visit to Coventry gave a great opportunity to get back to winning ways on the road.

It helped that the home team didn’t turn up for the first half, although admittedly Saints took a while to get going as well – but, on 33 minutes Chaplow was strong enough to ride a block tackle and stay on his feet to open the scoring. Then Do Prado got round the back of the Cov. defence and pulled the ball back for Lallana to score easily, and there didn’t seem to be any way back for the Sky Blues. Davis had been a virtual spectator in the opening period, but he was forced into a fumbling save from McSheffrey’s free kick at the restart. His next action was to pick the ball out of the net when Jutkiewicz headed home the resulting corner.

Coventry were still struggling to make any real impact, and bringing on the big central striker Platt ought only to have played into the hands of Fonte and Hooiveld. But then a series of loose balls fell the wrong way, including a critical touch in front of goal that dropped perfectly for Platt to equalise. Nigel’s response was to replace Chaplow with Hammond, suggesting a defensive approach, which would have been a wrong move.

To be fair, there was little evidence of that on the pitch as this was still a game to be won, a view confirmed when the unmarked Do Prado headed home Fox’s cross. There was no doubt about the outcome after De Ridder pounced on some more woeful home defending and added a fourth goal for a welcome win away from St. Mary’s.

LSSC Man of the Match: Guly Do Prado, with two assists and a goal. Not a difficult decision for the three of us who managed to get to and from the Ricoh Stadium by pubic transport without visiting central Coventry – always a good idea. We had to walk down a few canal tow-paths, but it has to be recorded that another London Saints traveller tried to walk along the canal itself… with the inevitable result!

Become a Member

Become a member of London Saints from as little as £5.

Join Online

Twitter

Facebook