Blackburn Away Lost 2 – 1
Changes at Blackburn – well, it wouldn’t be Saints otherwise. Out from defence were Harwood-Bellis and Fraser, but in now transpires that it was match-day illness that left us without both Jander and Downes, so Azaz was the only recognisable midfielder available from the travelling squad to partner Charles. None of this should have mattered much against straggling Blackburn, with the only question being could we find the net? The answer was yes as Scienza took advantage of slack defending on their right, his finish having a bit of the Brazilian about it – not the Guly do Prado sort of finish, either. So far, so good, but the side is no stranger to a lead away from home, and Rovers managed to clip the bar from a corner, situations where they always looked dangerous. You know for sure that our defenders have at least one mistake in them, and early in the second half Quarshie gave the ball away, only for Morishita to miss a golden chance. Unfortunately Armstrong was in similar form with his finishing, firstly being denied by goalkeeper Tóth, and then by the post before also failing to get a shot away from a third, far more difficult, opportunity. These things are potential coach-killers… With Azaz not having much of a clue in his new role, the game was not going as expected, so it made sense to bring on Stephens to shore up the midfield; what didn’t make sense was taking off Scienza rather than Azaz. Mr Still says Scienza can’t play 90 minutes, although he doesn’t explain why, and Léo was still our best forward option when withdrawn – his body language certainly suggested he could have given more. Somewhat inevitably, the lead was soon lost, with full back Alebiosu flinging in a low cross that missed its target but found the net instead, beyond McCarthy’s poor effort. Then disaster – Charles pulled up injured so on came Robinson, Welington and Bragg. Bragg has been around for a while now with only a couple of substitute appearances – so what was he doing there, with other options on our books? The explanation is that the U21 team were at Leicester so Bragg and fellow sub Oyekunle were felt to be best placed to make an emergency dash to Lancashire. Bad move! Bragg failed to clear a corner and Gudjohnsen eventually scored from close range with two minutes plus plenty of added time left. Saints managed use the remaining minutes to finish effectively with nine men after Welington was dismissed for an assault on Gudjohnsen and Azaz suffered from cramp that left him a rather awkward passenger, with all subs used; the player managed to make his way over to the bench but seems to have been advised to hobble on rather than receive on-field treatment and spend a few seconds off it. All in all a shambolic day on and off the pitch.
LSSC Man of the Match shouldn’t be a difficult choice but at least here are three candidates to choose from:
2. Mads Roerslev.
13. Léo Scienza.
15. Nathan Wood-Gordon.
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