Walton hands Southampton another home win

Two Nicky Maynard goals at the Den yesterday meant Bristol City became only the second club this season to beat Millwall there. They deserved it. They are right in the middle of their honeymoon period just now with new manager Derek McInnes who, according to the players, is allowing them to play rather than just kick the ball long.

It will be interesting to see how things pan out there once the new man has settled down. Remember we won six and lost just once of the first nine league games under Eddie Howe when he came in. That's what happens so maybe it is premature to suggest Bristol City will climb their way out.

Now to the top of the league and the incredible game at St. Mary's. It was 0-0 at half time but it was then that Premier League referee Walton decided to add a bit of drama. He awarded Southampton a penalty for a foul that was so far outside the box it was ridiculous and then a second one when Rickie Lambert went down untouched.

Mind you, he also waved away the most blatant of penalties so at least he was showing some consistency. Brighton were incensed. They argued with him and they pushed him. He didn't like it and the cards kept coming out. His one red and seven yellow cards even beat Darren Deadman's six at Derby (all but one for the away team naturally) on Saturday.

You've got to hand it to Southampton. They haven't dropped a single point at home since 15th January when Notts County played out a 0-0 draw. That's 18 successive home wins for them. That's something our fans just couldn't imagine right now as we currently sit on a run of only 4 wins in the last 16 home games in the league.

Southampton are now in a very strong position, already eight points clear of the play offs. They'd have to collapse in the same way as we did ten years ago to avoid a return to the Premier League you would think.

West Ham look favourites to join them whilst at the other end of the table both Coventry and Doncaster are falling further away.