Nick65

A draw's not much good, as although it's possible to get something from the City game, I wouldn't be bet on us doing that if we actually needed to. If we win tonight we're safe - that's all we should be thinking about. COYS etc

Famous Three Kings in West Kensington used to be the place to go didn't it? Remember watching Saints draw at WBA in 2008 with Lallana's late goal with a load of Saints fans. But like previous poster I can't stand the thought of 2 hours of suffering in the company of lots of 'neutrals' who don't care either way, so intend having a couple of pints with a mate in a non-TV pub and finding out the result later.

"He'll be disappointed with that when he sees it again"

First ever gig I went to was The Nice at Bournemouth Winter Gdns in 1970. Thought he was brilliant in the Nice but never liked ELP much. Sad end.

That was a great evening - a proper old school football-watching experience. Lallana got 2 and Morgan managed to get booked for diving. Think it was our first away win of the season, or the game we got out of having minus points or something.

Remember Campbell Forsyth saving one against Liverpool in 1967, almost exactly a year after breaking his leg in the same fixture. Might have been his only one, but hey, quality not quantity, right?

Have only just seen this - vey sad news. I was there when he scored his only Saints goal - a late equaliser against West Brom in our first season in Div 1. Gave us a vital point and I can still see him standing in front of the Milton, one arm aloft in celebration. My most vivid meory of him in action was when he totally wiped out Liverpool's Tommy Smith and sent him crashing to the cinders and into the West stand wall. And then just grinned at him. Anyone old enough to remember Tommy Smith will realise how impressive that was. One of my favourite ever Saints players. Belated condolences to his family.

Was living in London then; me and a mate turned up on the off chance & got tickets outside the ground really easily - 2 quid I think. Was in the fabled Shed, right behind the goal. It was a truly awful game of football but it's all about the result innit. The Paul Gilchrist goal was so out of the blue I don't think we could believe it for a second when it went in. I remember Ossie kneeling down and posing to one of the pitchside cameras at the final whistle while we all went crazy. As someone else said, it was amazing to think of the Saints finally getting to play at Wembley. Saw JJ Cale at Hammesmith Odeon that evening but I was too euphoric to pay much attention - I think it was euphoria. Anyway - happy dayz.

Hmmm 5-1 loss, Schmeichel getting the 5th with a punt downfield. And it'll p!ss with rain.

As I remember it, this game was just after we'd been given the ten-point admin deduction, so things were really desperate. Still think we could have won the game - we had another free-kick a couple of minutes after the JPS goal in about the same place, but Surman took it instead. For some reason, the worst game of that season for me was a 0-0 at home to Coventry sometime around February and it was freezing. Leon Best was playing for Coventry; Safri gave the ball way in our area right at the end and almost lost it for us, and St Marys was about half-full. Good memories from that time - 3-0 up at half-time against Preston, couldn't believe it. And the Sheff Utd last game the season before, Stern John sent off, but holding on for the last 10 minutes- Richard Wright the calmest person on the pitch.

Jeez, that ad's lamer than a pony caught in a cattle-grid.

I remember Tony Knapp crouching down and watching the reaction from the Milton instead of looking at the action. That was some win against the side that finished runners-up (I think) that year. From memory, Big Ron started taking pens for us after that game - don't think he missed many either.

Born in Winchester, but living in Reading when I got into football (aged 7) and pestered my Dad to take me to a game. As Dad (and my uncles) was a Saints fan, he took me to Reading vs Saints in 1960. Can't remember the game except we lost. Moved to Lymington when I was 11 and really became a Saints supporter in 1965 (hence unoriginal moniker). First home game was Swansea April 65, we won 3-1, Martin Chivers got our first, Cliff Huxford scored an own-goal. To the guy who's first game was Charlton in 1966 - that was one hell of an intrioduction. I knew we were going up after that one.

A pedant writes :- Disagree with this, or I don't think it's the full story anyway. As you said, the average of what the 2nd place team has got in the past is a good indicator of what the 2nd place team will actually get. But that isn't the same as what they need. I'd have thought it's more likely to be the halfway mark between the average 2nd place and average 3rd place, plus one. Having said that, I think we need at least 86 points this season; can see at least 2 out of Wham, Brum, Blackpool and Reading pushing us all the way.

Yeah, obviously a joke but not sure he's a total c***. He's a clever guy with a sense of humour who likes to wind people up. The OP on the other hand, just seems interested in the winding-up part.

I was there - and with a mate too, so there were at least 3 of us. Hughie Fisher own goal I seem to remember. Millwall away in about September 77, it looked like I was the only Saints supporter there apart from 1 bloke right behind the goal with a long red&white scarf. That was probably my worst ever Saints away experience, we played carp and lost 3-0 and the Den was like something out of Dickens, populated with hordes of seriously seedy/dodgy characters. And there were millions of flies buzzing around. Place was like a rubbish dump.

Agree that Jimi's version of All Along the Watchtower is brilliant, although the original is great as well. Neil Young's version of Dylan's Blowin in the Wind. Santana - Black Magic Woman (Fleetwood Mac) Nico - The End (The Doors) REM - Strange (Wire) Kokomo - I Can Understand It (Bobby Womack) Rod Stewart - Reason to Believe (Tim Hardin) Carole King - Will You Love Me Tomorrow (Shirelles, yeah I know she wrote it in the first place) Terry Reid - Stay With Me Baby (? Lorraine Ellison)

Yay - so long as it's the Skids' version.

Denis Hollywood

First evening game at the Dell I saw was WBA in 1967 - Docker Walker scored his one and only Saints goal to bring it back to 2-2 after being 2 down. As a 14-year old I'd just started going in the Milton on my own; we played Fulham a few days earlier in a Saturday game and that was pretty good, but the atmosphere in evening games was something else. I can still see Docker standing there with one arm up in the air after he scored - bit like Tony Adams appealing for off-side come to think of it.

Happy birthday Ron. Thanks for making the late sixties a great time to be a Saints fan. My favourite ever Saints goal - your diving header at home to Wolves, end of 67-68 season. Absolute bullet!

Recommend Rawalpindi in Twickenham. Definitely a cut above.

How many guards of honour per season are champions supposed to get FFS If we'd done it, would they still expect Huddersfield to do it as well?

Don't know about the relative merits of the respective Fine Arts courses, but one of my daughters is currently at Nottingham Uni (not Trent). Nottingham is amazingly lively on a Saturday night, but quite safe unless you're looking for trouble. There's a very large student population and not very much contact with the locals - they frequent different bars and clubs. Loughborough as a town is apparently pretty staid in comparison, but nothing wrong with that I suppose.

I must be one of the few people to be feeling more confident after this game than before it. I thought we got steadily better as the game went on, despite Rovers obduracy, injuries, bizarre refereeing etc. A really strong, gutsy team performance, with (as usual) Fonte being a cut above. I thought Guly had a good game, but reckon his best position is maybe in 'the hole'. He has very good technique - great goal and unlucky not to score with that volley in the first half - and I don't think he's lazy either. He and Connolly could be very important for us in the next 3 weeks. Thought Stephens & Hammond were OK in midfield too. Will miss Barney and his work-rate, but Connolly is a class replacement. Would like to think we can win 4 from the last 5 - reckon 3 wins and a draw could be enough. How great would a win at Brighton be though ...