Kingsbridge Saint

Much improved performance. Narrow defeat. International break to stew on it. Standard.

We have half a chance. It will be Man City Reserves - yes I know they are still strong - but Leicester nearly turned them over last season in this competition, much later stage too. Would be just like Saints to nick this one, even if its on penalties after 90.

Thanks lads - just made my season! Really glad it hammered down with rain as it will have washed a few of those 6 fingered Pikeys all along the touchline. Never seen an uglier bunch of thick morons in my life. Like a holding pen for the Jeremy Kyle show. I suppose Portsmouth is the logical spot for the dregs of a gene pool made up of pressed men on shore leave and fishy whores. 4-0. Best ever win down there. Hope it stings like hell for years to come.

Chasing the game after a shocking team selection by Ralph. Some reputational damage for him tonight but the chance to put it right Tuesday.

JWP and Hoj are where attacking chances seem to end. JWP has been woeful with his two corners.

Poor first half from us, not enough intensity, way too many individual errors giving the ball away. No leadership from the captain who was playing like a drain as well. Much better second half, so going to credit Ralph with that. Good subs from Ralph too. Romeu had a great game, and a peach of a cross from Danso that hasn't really got enough credit got us a deserved equaliser. Good to see us hanging on to a well earned point, would have been gutting (but typical) to have folded at the end there, so a good afternoons work in the end. Couple of weeks to get that front third working better on the training ground now, and get a couple of players back.

Poor miss today. Absolutely slashed at it with no composure, with plenty of time too. Worrying signs but still has plenty of time to get a goal and then we'll see what that does for his confidence. Looks a decent player in there somewhere.

Running it out of play, misplaced passes, wrong decisions, poor crosses, little movement, ponderous, falling over the ball, missing tackles, giving them too much space, poor first touches. Get the horsewhips out - we are beating ourselves here with repeated donkey football errors.

Hojberg is a liability out there. Captain my arse. Boufal is the only footballer on our team.

Poor pass from Hojberg. Gives it away. United have the ball for a minute. Get it back, Ings stubs his toe on it, lose possession, James nearly scores again. FFS hold on to the effing ball!!

Great response from us since gifting them half the pitch for their goal. Should be two or three down already Sort it out Ralph!!!

The United defence looked really shaky up against pace so I would start either Boufal or Djenepo. Would take a point. Fancy 2-2.

Not at all surprising to see one of their big centre halves hitting the deck in the box from a corner looking at the ref towards the end when it was still 1-0. Arms spreadeagled looking straight at the ref as he lay on the deck. Wonder if it brought back any memories for JWP. It's definitely a tactic at BHA. I saw it in games after they did it to us last season. Duffy usually, though I don't think it was this time. Odious fans as well, booing Valery for not getting his leg broken.

Djenepo's pace is something we have really been missing. Good to see Redmond with the confidence to take people on carry it forward and have a dip at the end as well. Boufal looks excellent, beautiful work and slide rule cross for Redmonds goal. He is going to be incredible for us this season. Hoj looked a bit off the pace and Adams needs a goal to get himself up and started. Defence looked terrible all game. At one point Bednarek had 6 touches in the box without getting the ball under control when Vestergard got under it (again) - one off each arm and two off each leg. Having said that, once we have a settled back 4/5 things should improve. Ralph is slowly sussing out who he wants in there, Danso looked strong and had a good debut.

Typical of Saints. We were always going to get a good performance after the surrender last week. Equally inevitable was the narrow defeat. How did Ings miss that sitter? Nice run, then no composure or technique. Both minimum requirement for £20M surely. Brighton will see the performance levels drop again just enough to see us beaten by a goal or two. If we do put the same effort in we might get something, but I cant see it happening.

Bottom three after that lot. Would expect to beat Bournemouth at home now they have signed the chronically chronic Billings.

Easy win for Liverpool sadly. No way our defence is keeping them out when they need to score. They will get two or three up and then manage the game. This ones a write off so might as well have a good look at Danso and Boufal from the start.

£25m for Ings looks a lot.

Suits me nicely in Brisbane. 5am Saturday morning is much easier than midnight or 1am at my age. Stopping up that late in Queensland is almost beyond impossible where the standard day starts around 4:30am and most of the restaurants are kicking you out the door by 8pm. Trying to stay awake through those midnight games under Puel and Pellegrino was like Waterboarding.

Might be worth sticking with. First season syndrome etc. Might yet have a part to play for us. He's not been great, but not been truly dreadful either. Just ineffective and a bit weak going the other way. Both probably coach-able.

With Ralph having a look at him in pre season he isn't going to be disappointed in Boufals pace or ability. Whether he can be re-integrated and re-enthused about Saints will be the biggest issue. Hopefully Ralph can get him back inside the tent.

Not sure Ings is a good idea given the minutes he gets on the pitch. Anyone know how many minutes he played last season in the League against the 3,420 available? I would guess 50% at most.

I would not be surprised to see us signing a decent Asian player given our ownership. I would also like to see Boufal given another chance with his pace and risk taking encouraged rather than stifled.

Great that Ralph kept us up, but would be nice to go into the close season with a message for next season. A good hungry committed performance from the best possible team selection, and a 3-0 or 4-0 please. Another West Ham type performance won't be good for morale at all.