|
Winning at Southampton is not something we do very often, and the last time we came home with a victory was in the inaugural season of the League Cup in 1960/61 when we beat them 4-2 in the fifth round with goals from Brian Pilkington, Ray Pointer and two from Ronnie Fenton.
The last league success was as far back as our second division promotion season of 1946/47 when Jack Knight gave us a 1-0 win on Easter Monday to complete the double over them having won at the Turf, also 1-0, on Good Friday.
Back to the present and Southampton have eased their relegation worries somewhat with four points in the last two games. They beat Bristol City at St. Mary's a couple of weeks ago and followed that up with a draw at Charlton last week. It has left them in nineteenth place and two points above Leicester who currently hold that last relegation place.
Their problems aren't just on the field, Southampton has become the division's crisis club off the field with potential takeovers collapsing and now former chairman the duck shooting Rupert Lowe threatening EGMs and votes of no confidence in the board.
Manager Nigel Pearson expects his side to come out fighting right from the kick off knowing a win could see them virtually safe tonight whilst a defeat could leave them fighting for their lives.
With the pressure on the home side this surely is as good an opportunity as we have had to win at Southampton for some time. We've only won one point from our last five away games (that coming at Stoke) and a win would ensure our best points total since the 2001/02 season.
Nigel Pearson has Gregory Vignal available again after a hamstring injury in what is a fully fit squad other than long term injury victims Andrew Davies, Claus Lundekvam and Chris Makin. However Vignal is unlikely to start with Pearson expected to stick by the eleven who played at Charlton last week.
Southampton's expected line up is: Richard Wright, Jermaine Wright, Chris Perry, Chris Lucketti, Andrew Surman, Mario Licka, Youssef Safri, Inigo Idiakez, Jason Euell, Stern John, Bradley Wright-Phillips. Subs from: Kelvin Davis, Marek Saganowski, Vincent Pericard, Jhon Viafara, Alexander Ostlund, Darren Powell, Gregory Vignal, Adam Hammill, Wayne Thomas, David McGoldrick.
Owen Coyle must name a side without either Kyle Lafferty and Stanislav Varga who have both been ruled out of the season. The good news is that Clarke Carlisle is available again after serving his three match ban and given the words from Coyle this week on Carlisle he is certain to start.
There's also a chance that Jon Harley and Alan Mahon could feature after injury but I would expect them to be on the bench at best.
Our team could be: Brian Jensen, Graham Alexander, Clarke Carlisle, Steven Caldwell, Stephen Jordan, Wade Elliott, James O'Connor, Chris McCann, Robbie Blake, Ade Akinbiyi, Andrew Cole. Subs from: Gabor Kiraly, David Unsworth, Jon Harley, Joey Gudjonsson, Mark Randall, Alan Mahon.
We were two weeks into 2007 when we last played at Southampton and it was our first league match of the year. We'd already suffered two postponements because of waterlogged pitches.
|
Akinbiyi almost came close to giving us the lead but goalkeeper Kelvin Davis made an excellent save. However it was not a game with too much goalmouth action.
There were one our two unsavoury incidents as Wayne Thomas was targeted by Saints players. They'd seen him sent off in the game at Burnley and were clearly trying to get a reaction out of him. Referee Ton Bates was having a poor game and wasn't clamping down on such things but thankfully Thomas avoided any problems.
Bates though was alert on a number of occasions when he caught Grzegorz Rasiak and Mario Licka both diving. He didn't miss one of them but not once did he take real action and get his cards out.
Overall it was a disappointing game but with the Clarets having lost the three previous away games we at least came home with a point for the second season in succession at Southampton.
The teams were;
Southampton: Kelvin Davis, Gareth Bale, Chris Baird, Claus Lundekvam, Darren Powell, Mario Licka, Jermaine Wright, Pele, David McGoldrick, Kenwyne Jones (Bradley Wright-Phillips 45), Grzegorz Rasiak. Subs not used: Bartosz Bialkowski, Alexander Ostlund, Jhon Viafara, Adam Lallana.
Burnley: Mike Pollitt, Wayne Thomas, Michael Duff, John McGreal, Jon Harley, Wade Elliott, Eric Djemba-Djemba, James O'Connor, Chris McCann, Ade Akinbiyi, Kyle Lafferty. Subs not used: Stephen Foster, Garreth O'Connor, John Spicer, Steve Jones, Gifton Noel-Williams.
Previous 20 Seasons | |||||
Season | Div | Ven | Result | Att | Scorers |
2005/06 | C | a | 1-1 | 21,592 | Akinbiyi |
. | . | h | 1-1 | 10,636 | Gray |
2006/07 | C | h | 2-3 | 13,051 | Jones Gray |
. | . | a | 0-0 | 20,486 | . |
2007/08 | C | h | 2-3 | 10,944 | McCann Akinbiyi |