SouthportSaint

The whole match is on You Tube here :-

I was there. Remember feeling sick after the goal until the whistle blew. The whole thing seemed surreal. The Cup Final was so much bigger in those days as a national event and all the neutrals wanted us to win. I remember riding back though London on my motorbike with a friend on the back, with our colours on, and people in the street were waving and shouting congratulations as we went by.

I was there when :- We beat Wolves 9-3 We won 6-2 at Stamford Bridge We won the FA Cup Kevin Keagan made his debut for us Peter Shilton scored against us at the Dell We lost 0-8 at Everton Bruce Grobbelaar let in the 'dodgy' goal at Coventry but Ekelund, making his debut, won the game for us.

I will be listening to Saints Player in Southport. If Saints are winning with twenty minutes to go I will switch off and pace around until I'm certain its over. Then I take a deep breath and switch on for the score!

Just back to Southport. Nice video of De Ridder goal courtesy of my son Matt.

Just back to Southport. Nice video of De Ridder goal courtesy of my son Matt.

Strange little things you notice on Saints Player highlights, but it looks like some odd behaviour by Baldock at a Saints free kick in the second half. Having just been booked for not retreating 10 yards for a Lambert free kick, Baldock then appears to stand no more than 5 yards to Lambert's left and mimic Lambert's run-up, presumably to try to put him off?

'All Angles Covered' highlights on Saints Player show beyond doubt that Derbyshire took a dive in the incident with Davis.

I think the losing managers' post-match comments are always going to be influenced by pre-match expectations. They weren't expecting to be outclassed by Saints (nor where their fans) so their only explanation has to be that their team played poorly. Had they watched exactly the same match and the same performances but the opposition were in red shirts and called Man Utd, then their post match comments might have been more about the quality of the opposition and less about their own failings. Saints 4th goal last night, for example, if scored by Owen running on to a lobbed pass by Rooney, would have been a case of 'you can't defend against that quality'. Because it was Schneiderlin and Lallana, their centre backs get the blame.

My first game this season and I was amazed at the quality of the passing, the movement and the invention. We are not talking about passing square just to keep possession. This was quick accurate forward passing and moving, constantly creating space and openings. A definite touch of the Arsenal, including a bit of a tendency to want to walk the ball into the net. Compared with last season one big difference was having a good playing surface away from home. This will really help us this season. Very impressed with Cork and Richardson. Lallana and Guly showed their tricks but everybody looked comfortable on the ball. Nervy last 5 minutes. I know Barnsley were poor but even an equaliser would not have changed the fact that Saints were a joy to watch. Well done Nigel Adkins for choosing this way to play.

Agree that the Milton Road, under the chocolate boxes, was never allocated to away supporters in my memory. Regarding not getting a good view. As a young lad in the 1960s my experience was of a very limited view wherever I stood in the ground, unless I was in the queue when the gates opened and got a place right at the front by the wall. Being in a chocolate box was no advantage if you weren't at the front or really tall. Another restricted view, even as an adult, would be standing under the East or West stand towards the back of the terrace. Because of the overhanging stand above, you lost sight of the ball when it went over to the far touchline or whenever it was kicked above head height. Add in the pillars and the tall bloke stood in front of you and probably 50% of the game was out of view!

My thoughts exactly. I can see how the Premiership is the promised land for clubs who have never been there but, for me, the novelty wore off long before relegation. It is great to start the season with a genuine chance of being at or near the top. Of course we want promotion but we will miss the buzz of winning many more games than we lose. We got 92 points this year and in the premiership we would be 'happy' with 40. That's many fewer goals to cheer and more gloomy Saturday nights following a defeat. I am afraid I am one of those who would much rather watch us beat Ipswich 4-1 than see us lose 3-0 at Chelsea. Never mind, onwards and upwards!

I like the way they dub the Radio Solent commentary onto the video footage - so much better than adding fake commentary after the event. The 'All Angles covered' videos, dubbed with the Solent commentary, have been brilliant all season and they do show how accurately Dave Merrington summarises goalmouth incidents during the live broadcast. I doubt that he has the benefit of slow-mo replays at the time.

If the manager is going to be true to his "we're all on the bus" philosophy, then he will be loyal to the players who have got us this far, especially as the squad was assembled to play in the Championship. I think he will be mainly looking for the extra pace that we lack when AOC is missing. Not sure that we need another central midfielder, except maybe a squad player if we don't retain Stephens. I hope Butterfield is kept on.

Good memories of League One and I hope I will have more respect for the lower league sides in future. It was not all long ball and blokes kicking lumps out of each other. Plenty of good home grown players on show, quite a few teams playing a passing game, and fans who know their football. Most of all, how good to have a couple of seasons not dominated by constant talk about how much money players are getting paid, or want to get paid. There is also a much closer relationship between the players and the fans. It feels like football in the real world compared to the media circus that is the premiership.