The lowest league crowd to watch saints turn out on a wet and windy night on the south coast, only so see 2 sides draw a blank.
Saints started with a centre midfielder at right back and a left midfielder at left back as saints have 7 defensive injury problems.
Saints started the first half with much zip and flow, Jermaine Wright passed the ball well while Adam Hammill looked dangerous, the Wednesday midfield had no answer to Safri and his sweet passes, but unfortunatley saints couldn’t make that count. Saints defence looked good despite the fact the full backs were both midfielders.
The best chance was when Jermaine Wright played the ball through between the centre back and left back for Stern John to latch on to it and to finish sweetly past the keeper but the linesman put his flag up quickly and the goal didn’t stand.
The impressive Akpo Sodje had a run at the saints defence and unleashed a beautiful shot which was going right in the bottom corner until Kelvin Davis pulled off a world class save to deny the guy who scored 2 times against saints 3 weeks ago.
On 25 minutes saints got there 8th injury to a defender, Andrew Davies made an amazing tackle on Akpo Sodje, taking both man then ball only to suffer blurred vision in the process of injuring the wednesday target man. Davies is a doubt for saturdays visit of Hull, leaving saints with only 1 fit defender, Central midfield player Jhon Viafara played centre back for the rest of the game.
Viafara won saints a free kick 5 minutes before half time, he ran from inside his own box to be brung down 20 yards out from goal, he looked to be through on goal until cruely being brought down, the Wednesday player should have been off but only got a yellow from the laughable ref, Mr Friend.
Half time whistle went, the score 0-0
Only 2 chances of note came in the second half, Bradley Wright-Phillips turned the defender inside the box and unleashed a shot, which was smartly blocked by the keeper, Kelvin Davis did exactley the same to deny Wednesday is the last few minutes.
Saints suffered another injury set back when Adam Hammill unleashed a shot and tweaked his groin, he will be out along with 12 of his team mates for the Hull game on saturday.
The final whistle was greeted with boo’s
Player Ratings
Kelvin Davis 8
2 good saves in the match and must have been delighted to see saints fans sing for him.
Jermaine Wright 7
Out of position, played well but lacks pace and seems uncapeable of either crossing or passing over a long distance.
Alan Bennett 8
Lead the line well as Davies went of early.
Andrew Davies 6
Got injured and is a doubt for the visit of Hull.
Rudi Skacel 6
Started well but isn’t a left back
Adam Hammill 7
Ran his socks off for the team and looked dangerous. Until he joined the long list on injuries saints have.
Youseff Safri 7
Started well but couldn’t find that killer ball.
Andrew Surman 7
Did ok in the middle of the park, kept Wednesdays best midfield player Folly quiet.
Jason Euell 7
Ran all he could for the team but is far from the player he was.
Bradley Wright-Phillips 7
Gave Wednesday problems but doesn’t have that natural finish like Grzegorz Rasiak does.
Stern John 8
Looked good going forward, could have scored.
Jhon Viafara 8
Played well at the back for saints, despite the fact he is a midfielder
Marek Saganowski 7
Looked good when on the pitch, the saints then took a more conventional 4-4-2 formation on his arrival.
One of the newer products of the saints youth set-up, and played well, has put his name in the mixer after replacing the injured Adam Hammill.
Manager Rating
Burley got his tactics all wrong yet again, he played a 4-5-1 formation which was a 4-3-2-1 formation when attacking, it didn’t work at all.
Mr Kevin Friend
Was a joke, it seemed he had a Wednesday shirt on, he missed many fouls and it didn’t go down well with the saints fans.