Frustrating Afternoon Eventually Put to Bed By Bitterne Boy
With all the pre-match talk of run-ins and away trips to Preston, Stoke, Wolves and Birmingham in the near future, Southampton knew that they had to start picking up maximum points at home. Burley had pinpointed the next three games as must-wins before a much more difficult March, but Saints were almost victims of getting ahead of themselves as Barnsley twice put Southampton in difficult situations. But credit must go to the home side as they hit back quickly on both occasions and came away with a comfortable 5-2 victory.
The game started in the worst possible fashion for Southampton as the struggling Tykes took the lead after just two minutes with Nardiello being played onside by Ostlund and running clear to place the ball past Davis. This was a real shock to the system as Southampton expected nothing more from Barnsley than another side coming to St Mary`s and sitting back, waiting to be broken down, but Barnsley`s early smash and grab may well have been exactly the catalyst Southampton needed. Seconds later Colgan made a meal of a Bale free-kick and the ball was almost forced in by Saganowski. But it didn`t take long for Southampton to break through as a Jermaine Wright corner was only half-cleared and Drew Surman slammed the ball home on the half-volley. Minutes later Southampton should have gone ahead as Bale`s superb cross found Saganowski unmarked at the back post but his header skewed awkwardly wide from six yards.
Southampton`s pressure didn`t let up and Bale again skipped past two men before his shot was well blocked by Colgan before Saganowski was once again denied his first goal for the club by an excellent reaction save from Colgan from close range. As half-time approached Southampton`s dominance waned and they were reduced to pot-shots from Wright who was busily collecting and distributing the ball for the home side. The half ended with Kenwyne Jones stretching to head over from a narrow angle after good work from Skacel and Bale on the left.
The score at the break may not have been what the Southampton fans had in mind but the performance had some of the style and fluency that had perhaps been lacking against some teams who had set out similarly defensive stalls at St Mary`s this season. Some attributed this to the surprise exclusion of leading scorer Rasiak from Burley`s line-up, as the extra movement and mobility brought to the side by Saganowski gave Southampton extra options and dimensions when going forward. Jones and Saganowski had already shown that their blend of power and guile could open up the sturdiest of defences at West Brom a week earlier, and with more composure in front of goal they could have notched up a goal each in the first half against Barnsley`s leaky defence.
An early goal was a must for Southampton to relieve pressure in the second half and that is exactly what they got when Skacel`s pinpoint cross found Jones who glanced his header past Colgan. The Southampton side visibly relaxed but still gave Barnsley problems as they were camped out in the Barnsley half and Surman was inches away from finding the top corner from twenty-five yards. The home side continued to control proceedings without really moving past third gear with Lundekvam and Baird untroubled at the back. On seventy minutes Southampton almost finished Barnsley off when Skacel wrong-footed the goalkeeper but his shot just went the wrong side of the post. Barnsley, though, made Southampton pay for their complacency as Togwell`s forward run wasn`t tracked and Ferenczi turned in the excellent cross on his first appearance for the club.
Suddenly Southampton were in trouble again, with their promotion rivals all winning they had to find a goal in the final twenty minutes or risk slipping out of the playoff places. But the players, unlike the fans, were not rattled and quickly got down to the task of opening Barnsley up again; Ostlund turned sharply down the right byline and squared to find Jones free at the far post. It looked a certain goal but Jones somehow failed to force the ball in, hitting the post from two yards. The rebound fell to Viafara who sliced his shot high and wide to compound the supporters` disbelief. But this was soon replaced with delight as the linesman spotted a handball from Ferenczi when challenged by Lundekvam in the box and Jones dispatched the spot-kick confidently. This was followed by acrobatics from Jones who has now scored six goals in his last four games and is quickly making up ground on Rasiak in the scorer`s chart.
Barnsley were beginning to lose their cool and manager Simon Davey was sent off for his over-exuberant complaints and was quickly followed by Nardiello who was shown a straight red-card for an off the ball incident with Baird. Kenwyne Jones was hat-trick hunting and almost finished off a superb run from a narrow angle only to be denied by Colgan at the near post, but Southampton couldn`t be denied for long as Wright-Phillips the substitute squared for Surman to double his tally for the season brilliantly. Belmadi then made a welcome return to the side after four months on the sidelines with Skacel replaced by Surman on the left. Rasiak was then given a run-out by Burley and quickly headed down for Wright to let fly with his left foot only to be thwarted by a spectacular save from Colgan.
The goalscoring was still not over, however, as Viafara flicked the ball up onto the arm of ex-Saint Howard in stoppage time. Rasiak was determined to break his home duck and was incensed that Surman wouldn`t hand the ball to him, but Surman refused to miss out on his opportunity to score a hat-trick for his home-town club and sent Colgan the wrong way to complete a memorable day for his parents in the Itchen stand.
Three valuable points for the Saints put them in fourth place while Preston, West Brom and Derby were involved in FA Cup ties, but this particular job of giving themselves a platform to build on before we reach March is only a third completed: Southampton next visit Coventry, who have just appointed Iain Dowie as their new manager, before hosting Ipswich next week. Southampton will hope that Dowie`s arrival at the Ricoh arena won`t give the home side too much of a boost before they face the Saints tomorrow night, but bad form is not easily eradicated, as Southampton have seen with their two previous ‘new manager syndrome` experiences. With Albion facing Cardiff and Sunderland at Birmingham there will be points dropped all over the playoff places, giving Southampton the chance to make up valuable ground on the leaders.
Report by Chris Mitchell aka Mitch01