‘Stoke just wanted the three points more.’
Southampton`s hopes of regaining there place amongst the countries elite took a massive blow today away at the Britannia Stadium as Stoke City were gifted three points against an inept Southampton side.
The final score finished 2-1 to the home side and in all fairness there can be very little argument about the outcome not being a just and fair result. Southampton just didn`t seem to ever get out of first gear from the get go in this game and the way in which the players preformed has left many questions in the minds of Saints fans about George Burley`s ability to motivate his troops.
Perhaps to make matters worse it was Southampton who actually took the lead in the game Marek Sagonowski netted his third goal in a Saints shirt with 16 minutes gone, a fierce Chris Baird curling shot could only be parried by Stoke keeper Simonson only for Sagonowski to follow up and tap in the re-bound.
Saints had played reasonably well in the opening half an hour of the game but on 34 minutes the direction of which the game was going took a dramatic U turn when Stoke got themselves on level terms. From a corner former Saint Danny Higginbotham found himself unchallenged as he leaped highest to flick the ball onto the head of Jonathon Fortune who in turn powered the ball over the line to make it 1-1.
From that point onwards the game always looked like it was going to end up with a Stoke victory. Saints couldn`t turn the tide of the Potters dominance. Both sides had plenty of half chances but nothing with any real substance but as the game went on it became more and more obvious that Stoke just wanted the three points more.
The Stoke winner, when it came on 76 minutes, pretty much summed up Southampton`s afternoon. Jhon Viafara was on the deck claiming he had been struck in the face, half of the Saints team stood still as Russell went on to the edge of the box unchallenged before putting in Lee Martin to make it 2-1. Why the Saints defence saw fit to stand still and not play to the whistle is in one word a mystery.
From this point on the game just basically ran out of steam, a late flurry of half chances from Southampton was not enough to save them from defeat. School boy errors and a distinct lack of urgency cost Saints today and with only 9 games to go it will be desperate from now until May in the fight for a play off place.
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