Village Saint

Indeed and of course when we played them there at the alleged height of their powers in their promotion year, we trounced them. And that was before Adkins made us a much better side.

'Togetherness' - n. being together; feeling of being together - Oxford English Dictionary A non-word?

I can't help thinking that only a manager of Adkins stature could have pulled this off - indeed Cork himself confirms that having Adkins as manager was a heavy influence.

Not at all worrying. Very good news indeed. We'll not get ripped offand only get the people we are actually interested in. Hats off to whoever is making us not a pushover (sorry - difficult to deal with)

Fair minded fans will also remember that, although we all liked him in a Headless Chicken George sort of way, Antonio was gash (although less so than the equally popular but even more inept Papa Waigo). Your goals per minute question has been pretty well answered (you do the math). Furthermore age has nothing to do with it. Guly's contribution has been far greater and more positive than either Antonio or Papa Waigo and isn't that the point!

Thanks for providing such good evidence to back up my arguments. As you point out AC and Inter haven't changed their kit for nearly a century!! Barcelona never and Real Madrid never fundamentally. And that is the point. All these teams have a fundamental confidence in their image. Of course in the modern era they have tinkered just as Saints have done (and actually whilst the raspberry ripple and the penguin outfits weren't too clever they were stripes!) but fundamentally their kit is unchanged and so should ours be. And whilst yes our temporary kit does very much look like that Palace kit, it is good to know that even they abandoned it eventually.

Absolutely. Can we also add AC Milan; Inter; Barca and Real Madrid. The point is that only clubs with problems about their self image mess arround with their kits. One season of being a pale imitation of Crystal Palace is enough.

Certainly agree that the others were all no loss but Mills walked out when we were a Premier Division club. His subsequent career shows very very clearly that he will never be a Premier Division player. It was a very sound decision. Nor of course will Cranie ever be of Premier standard but he walked out when we were in the Championship to go to a Premiership club who promised him first team games so I am not sure quite how we could have kept him! The OP was having a laugh over Richard Wright who indeed did have a twilight resurgence in his cameo for us but subsequently proved a complete disaster everywhere he played!

You are too kind to him.

Actually one side is showing no signs of pressure - last three away games against three of the better sides in the division 7 points; last 2 at home 6 points. No prizes for guessing but it certainly aint Posh. They looked stressed to hell on Monday and that CMS couldn't hit a barn door.

More to the point just ask anyone from other clubs about the football we play and they'll tell you they wish they played like it. We do actually play decent ball to feet football most of the time. But this is League One and sometimes you have to admit that on a cr3p and often small pitch you have be prepared to change your game and stick it in the mixer. Actually under NA we haven't always done this. We did it brilliantly at the Daggers and Exeter but at Hartlepool we insisted on trying to playing it on the ground through them and it nearly came unstuck against their very very direct style. We were also a bit late in switching at Walsall and we went down. Overall though much happier that under NA we can get the way points which we couldn't always manage in the run in last year.

This is so wrong in so many ways but lets just deal with one point. The simple fact is that under Pardew we were hovering around the relegation zone. How can the results be the same!!!!!! But the most most important things is that Alan Pardew has nothing absolutely nothing to do with this football club. Why are we discussing him on here?

Well when he left we were fighting relegation so I guess not as well as we currently are viz favourites with the bookies to go up automatically with Brighton.

Perhaps Lambert is in because week in week out he is by far and away the best player in our team! Again he worked his balls off on Tuesday and rarely put a foot wrong setting up Guly; Lallana and Chaplow in turn for chances they really should have put away. His frustration was obvious.

Dont Sky are entirely correct. We had 7 on target (two of which were blocked by defenders with brilliant stops and one (from Chaplow) by an excellent save by the keeper) and they had 4 I think but only 1 actually required a save and Kelvin even made that one flashier than he needed to. We also has more corners and much more possession. The half-empty brigade are very very depressing but didn't take the gloss of a good result. The reality is that automatic promotion just got a little easier as our main challengers dropped home points and we picked up one away, closing the disparity in home and away matches to come.

It really is difficult to understand some of the people on here. Sure it was disappointing not to win last night. It always is when we dont win. But we had the hardest game of all our rivals last night and frankly getting a point at Hartlepool was the best achievement of any of them. They are a good side with a very direct percentage game and we never established the dominance in midfield to play our more cultured game. If there is anything to criticise Nigel for it is not getting Oxo off earlier but I guess he was hoping he would play himself into teh game second half as Lallana did. Still it was a great day out - Wetherby in the afternoon; Hartlepool a decent little town and an entertaining second half. What's not to like?

Patently nonsense but I think you know that. Another clean sheet for Davis.

Clearly anyone who describes himself as a 'goalie' has never actually played in goal - well not since 1948 anyway. Not only would it have been ridiculous for Kelvin to come for that ball for the second goal but perhaps people need reminding that just 4 days previously his series of saves gained us 3 points at Exeter. Yes he did make a mistake for the first but all keepers make mistakes; even Shilts made mistakes. But overall its a percentage game and even though he is not in his finest form just at present Kelvin still simply makes less than any other keeper in Division One. Thats why Nigel stands by him.

It doesn't. You pay a lot of money for a seat. It makes sense to use it. for some of us too stading up for one and a half hours is damn near impossible. The boring arseholes are the selfish ones who insist on standing and obstructing the views of genuine supporters who have come a long way but need to sit. I guess Griffo is one of them.

At last someone without blinkers. Ricky Lambert has been a much much better player this season. He has become the de facto leader of the attack. He pulls all the strings in the opponent's half and its is no surprise that he has been involved in nearly every single goal we have scored recently. No wonder our managers have both backed him. What he hasn't done is score as many goals himself and that is disappointing but whilst we are scoring so many not critical. I would be very surprised if he doesn't score more in the second half but as long as he keeps making his current contribution to the side I will be very happy. I would also be very surprised if he doesn't find the Championship more to his liking but difficult to predict whether he would be good enough for the Prem. Although he is quicker then many credit him for, he doesn't have searing pace which is so importnat in the Prem. But is he a better player than Taylor-Fletcher or Ricardo Fuller? - surely the answer has to be yes and both of them have done okay this year.

I certainly see your point and I agree it would be a total waste of money to get Austin in (not that there is any chance) as he would probably lose his scoring touch right away!

I know you don't mean to be so depressing but have you ever looked at the thousands and thousands of column inches that have appeared debunking this particular myth about the FA Cup being a distraction. It has been shown over and over again that having a good run in any Cup competition is associated with good league results not poor ones. Of course there have been occasional exceptions but it anyway hardly takes genius thinking to see that winning breeds confidence and losing doesn't.

Indeed. The poll results are scarily close though. I have to say it is the one bad aspect of so far a great season to see us playing in this sub-Crystal Palace kit. It is simply embarassing. Even the penguin and raspberry ripple versions of the stripes were better than this! Saints play in red and white stripes and long may it be so, although the black and red kit from Tuesday night makes a very good change kit. At least the memory of Tuesday night's glorious thrashing wont be tarnished by that awful awful sashed kit.