Hull Away Lost 3 – 1
One of many aphorisms attributed to Bill Shankly concerns the distinction between class and skill, where class involves demonstrating your skills ‘on a wet Tuesday in Southampton with Docker Walker up your arse’ (Walker being one of our several hardman defenders of that time). Thus also unclassy Southampton on a very wet autumnal afternoon in Hull. Downes (sic) missed a start due to injury, and few were regretting his absence, while Downs (sic) took the main striker’s role – and many more were regretting his selection by the end of the match. We also had Bazunu in goal, of course, and his spectacular save to keep out Gelhardt’s 22nd minute header only sent the ball back to Joseph who couldn’t believe his luck – the sad thing is that Bazunu probably thinks he did well, but others may well have caught that ball. Saints soon had a chance to even things up when Azaz sent Downs clear but the striker couldn’t even test goalkeeper Pandur – at least we now noticed his presence on the pitch. As against Portsmouth, the team emerged after the break with a new enthusiasm but that only lasted for 13 minutes, when City scored again. This one emanated from a poor clearance by Harwood-Bellis, then he and his colleagues had no answer as the ball was played up to Lundstram who volleyed in with ease. That was it for the ineffective Roerslev, Fellows and Downs, with Armstrong at last given a chance. We’d gone even further behind by the time Stewart and then debutant Jelert made an appearance, this latest goal being a header from McBurnie who headed home a simple free kick. It threatened to be more as Southampton began to fall apart and visiting fans began to brave the outside elements. They would have missed an added time goal from Armstrong‘s nice finish that did little to improve the mood. In the cold light of a sunny Southern morning, rather than the febrile atmosphere of soggy Kingston-Upon-Hull, maybe Saints weren’t that bad, not with stats showing 70% possession, 350 more passes than their opponents and a total of 32 crosses… but an expected goal figure of 1.02 for all that possession tells a different tale, especially with their opponents’ xG of 2.01, not to mention three actual goals!
Three LSSC Man of the Match candidates to choose from (although we are talking about the best of a bad bunch):
3. Ryan Manning. Shame a couple of free kicks didn’t find the net this week, though.
24. Shea Charles, but an expected creative partnership with Jander didn’t come off.
26. Ryan Fraser. He had an assist to show for his efforts.
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