SaintJackoInHurworth

I don't know if anyone has posted this anywhere else: http://www.johnstonespainttrophy.com/news/2009-2010/johnstones-celebrate-a-saintly-fan-base/ It appears that we have smashed the record for the highest ever attendance for a JPT match with our attendance for tonight. Funny bit at the end too: 'Leeds United have sold 1,400 tickets for their trip at Carlisle United in the northern area final...' Something tells me that Sky have opted to screen the wrong match!

A few other scores going reasonably in our favour at present - Carlisle holding Huddersfield - let's hope they can at least hold on to that draw or even win it! Norwich drawing with Milwall - you would think Norwich could hold that one and maybe win. Charlton and Swindon drawing - would like to see Charlton win that one to keep Swindon vaguely within reach. Stockport holding MK Dons - they were winning. Let's hope they can get their noses in front again and hold on to win. Walsall holding Bristol Rovers - a draw or a win for Walsall would be good in this one. The only score that is not so good is the Brentford one, but there only one point ahead of us, so we've got plenty of time to get in front of them!

Probably cos it's a lot easier to adapt the design that Gecko did than spend hours starting from scratch!

Could this be a compromise solution? Might the new shirt actually look like a bit like this do you think?

ESPN are saying that this latest takeover is disputed: http://www.espn.co.uk/football/sport/story/5173.html

A few other things to bear in mind in terms of us being able to get into the play-offs: 1. Our 'games in hand' are against Huddersfield and Swindon. Win them both and we make up major ground against our play-off opponents (lose them both and we will probably struggle to get anywhere near the play-offs!) 2. Both our games in hand are at home. 3. We have won every home game since the end of November. 4. We have only lost two home games all season. 5. The majority of our remaining away fixtures are against clubs towards the bottom of the table. 6. We have already played most of our most difficult away fixtures (with the exception of Norwich). 7. Two of our remaining away fixtures are against MK Dons and Bristol Rovers who we have already beaten away in the JPT and FA Cup respectively. Bearing these facts in mind, I think it is more than possible that we could win most of our remaining home games and possibly even most of our away games. The only game we might look at with any serious doubt would be the Norwich game. If we can do as well as this, then we have every chance of making the play-offs!

Not if you buy a ticket for the Hartlepool game with a credit card. That will get you onto the database and tickets for that can be bought now. Then, when you have done that you can go and buy a ticket for the Walsall game from Wednesday onwards and get your ticket for the Pompey game at the same time. Simple!

Why do people keep going on about Beckford? After seeing him last night and following the stewards comments about him needing five chances before he gets a decent shot on goal, he is NOT the sort of player we need! Let him be bought by some Championship or Premiership outfit for them to discover his distinct lack of class. In my opinion he is a poor man's Ade Akenbyi or Jason Lee! The following web page lists the ten worst Premier League strikers ever (complete with Ali Dia!). If Beckford were to play in the Premiership he would be sure to join the list! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1219047/THE-LIST-The-worst-strikers-played-Premier-League-Nos-10-1.html As for the question of who/what we could do with signing in the transfer window, I would suggest that midfield is a priority. We need more cover for our creative players - one injury and we are severely lacking in this area. If possible, we could do with signing a decent winger. Waigo and Antonio are ok, but they are not true wingers and they are fairly inconsistent. We need someone with some flair to take on players and get in some decent crosses - especially on the right hand side. I think we are fairly well covered in central midfield, so we only need sign a player here who is better than what we already have. Right back is another priority as cover for Murty. Similarly, I wonder what would happen if Harding got injured - maybe we need to buy another left back as cover in that position. I disagree that another striker is a priority. We have got Lambert and Connelly, possibly the two best strikers in the division together with Lallana and Waigo who can play up front if needed. I doubt we will find much better than that!

I don't agree that we were totally outplayed in the first half. There were certainly spells of the game when they were on top, but equally there were spells when we were on top. Not only that, but apart from the goal they hardly got a shot on goal; and when they did, those chances fell to the absymally over-rated Beckford who just fluffed his lines every time! To say Leeds were decent is to give them too much credit. If I were a Leeds fan, I would be extremely frustrated at the poor quality of some of their passing and squandering of possession. There were numerous occasions when, having dealt well defensively with a ball lofted into the centre their poor distribution opened up for us an immediate second opportunity to press forwards. If their midfield was on top to any degree it was only in so far as James and Hammond had pretty ordinary/poor games in the middle and we failed to make enough telling balls into Lambert, Lallana and Connelly to get many decent scoring opportunities. So, my scoring for the game is a little different to Chez and is as follows: Bialkowski - 7 - Didn't have a lot to do and dealt adequately. Didn't really have much hope of saving the goal - that would have beaten most if not all keepers! Thomas - 5 - worked hard for the team and tackled well. However, was caught out on a number of occasions by his lack of speed and therefore found himself relatively speaking out of position. Jaidi - 9.5 - An absolute rock in the centre of defence. Our MOTM. Perry - 9 - Excellent display. Regularly got his head in front of Leeds players to prevent them getting a shot at goal. Who needs Trotman? Harding - 6 - Some good support play up the wings, but occasionally got caught out of position and some of his distribution could have been improved on a few occasions. Hammond - 5 - Pretty anonymous for most of the game. Not one of his better performances. James - 4 - Even more anonymous than Hammond, apart from when we had corners. His corners were generally ok but not the telling balls that you are really looking for. Waigo - 5 - Started brightly and seemed to be troubling their defence at first, but then faded from the game and seemed to get dragged back into defensive duties to support Thomas. Defending is not his strength and it showed! Lallana - 7 - Worked hard and tried to make up for the failings of others, but this sometimes dragged him away from where he is most effective (though he was quick to get back in position). Leeds had done their homework and quickly got two or three players on to him as soon as he had the ball, thus limiting his opportunities to run at the opposition and create mayhem. Nevertheless, his class still shone through on occasions. Lambert - 7 - Worked hard but marked closely by the Leeds defence who hardly gave him a sniff of the ball. Nevertheless, his positional and support play was impeccable and he almost got an equaliser in injury time. Connelly - 8 - Worked harder than anyone on the pitch and nearly made things happen when little was on. But even he cannot work miracles with the inadequate support received from midfield and the lack of switching of play and good service from the wings. Subs - 4 - all pretty anonymous, though to be fair to Trotman and Gobern they were not really on for long enough to do anything much.

Got back from the game about 45 minutes ago after driving through a blizzard for most of the last ten miles and then being confronted by traffic queueing to 'have a go' at getting up an icy hill!! I don't envy those driving back down to Southampton if they have to put up with weather like that, though I suspect this weather front is coming down from up here (I live near Darlington). I've not read a lot of comments on here, though from what I have read I would say that I agree with some of it and disagree with comments from others... so let me give you my views... Firstly, Alan Pardew's report on the game is extremely accurate apart from perhaps two details: 1. Beckford was not their best player - he was a pile of crap! How any Premiership team can be interested in a player who is that poor in front of goal is beyond me! Their best player was Snodgrass who really made it tough for Thomas down the wing. His goal capped a fine performance and was probably the difference between the teams on the day. 2. Personally, I don't think we were missing Schneiderlin. I've not seen a lot of him, but what I have seen of him has been quite poor and I don't think he would have been the sort of player that would have coped well in these conditions. The player we were most missing was Graham Murty who would have kept Snodgrass a lot quieter and would have given us an extra option down the right where we were weak. Aside from all this though I would say that we were extremely unlucky not to come away with a draw on a day on which neither team really showed their full potential. Here's a few comments about individual performances: * We were extremely lacking in terms of crosses and the final ball - especially down the right, even though Waigo was excellent for the first 15 mins. * Our best players were Jaidi and Perry who were faultless in defence. * Lallana showed touches of his brilliance but was never given the space to show the full potential of what he could do. * Connolly was the hardest working player on the pitch and I was disappointed that he was substituted even if it was already well into injury time! I could say a lot more but I will leave it there for now - I might come on here again later and add a bit more.

I live in Darlington - about an hour and a half north of Leeds. It snowed and settled here earlier this evening, though it was nothing much and hasn't snowed for the last couple of hours. However, the forecast suggests there could be a little more snow tonight. I've been looking at Weather.co.uk and at the BBC Weather forecast. The forecast is not brilliant I'm afraid, though it could be worse! The Weather.co.uk forecast suggests it will stay cold tomorrow so the snow on the ground won't melt, though I would think the gritters will have been out so that main roads will all be clear. There is no snow forecast for tomorrow. Saturday, however, is a different matter... while the morning may be like Friday (very cold but clear) snow is forecast for the afternoon, so we could be watching the match in a blizzard!! HOWEVER... The BBC forecast is slightly different: It seems to suggest that it could snow a little bit on Friday, with a few occasional snow showers possible on Saturday. If the Weather.co.uk forecast is right, I am not looking forward to the drive home, but at least it is not too far for me. I am not at all envious of those who have to drive back to Southampton on Saturday evening. It looks like you could be facing snow down as far as about Leicester or Northampton. If you want to check out the forecast for yourself, here are the links: Weather.co.uk: http://uk.weather.com/weather/today-Leeds-UKXX0078?fromSearch=true BBC Weather: http://news.bbc.co.uk/weather/forecast/18?&search=leeds&itemsPerPage=10&region=uk

The weather is not looking good... here in darlington it has snowed and settled this evening with worse forecast for tonight and even worse forecast for Saturday. I think Leeds have undersoil heating, so I guess the game should go ahead won't it? Also, I'd advise care driving up here if you're driving to the match.

It sounds to me as if the regular committed fans and those who are up for a laugh are all saying yes to Santa hats while the trolls, boring farts and groaners are all saying no. So I guess it depends which camp you consider yourself to be in as to what you decide to do. If I remember (and I have a shocking memory most of the time!) I will try to bring a Santa hat with me and if there are enough other people wearing Santa hats, I too might join in with the fun!

To be fair though, in general it is the away fans that make most of the noise at a lot of matches (especially when Saints are the away team!). Last time we played them at Elland Road their fans were really quiet for much of the match and we commented at how poor their support was, while it felt to us that we completely out-sang them for most of the game. I think another part of the reason that so many are going to away matches is that a few people have tried it out on the back of our recent success, etc. and have discovered just how much of a buzz it is going to an away match. Consequently many of these have wanted more of that experience.

Well, I've given up waiting for news on the website and just rang the ticket office. Sure enough, tickets were on sale, so I've bought my ticket. I also asked whether he knew if Saints had got or were going to get the final allocation of tickets. He told me the ticket I had bought was from the second (600) allocation of tickets and that they were nearly sold out. He didn't know for sure, but he was of the opinion that they probably wouldn't get another allocation of tickets. So.. if you are planning to get a ticket I would be ringing fairly soon or you will miss out!!

I spoke to the ticket office twice yesterday. The first person I spoke to said there would be tickets tomorrow (i.e. today). The second person said that this could not be guaranteed. This morning I rung to check again and I was told they didn't yet know if they would be getting a further allocation. They advised me to keep an eye on the website. So far I have hardly done any work today as I keep checking!! Aaagggghhh!!!

Just to add to my comments above, I would say both the Full Time Report and Alan Pardew's comments on the OS are pretty accurate records of the game. In terms of player ratings, I would offer the following: Davis 8 (Two brilliant saves just before limping off helped secure the win) Murty 6 (Struggled to get up to speed in the first half) Trotman 6 (Too many hoof bals in the first half, but better in the second) Jaidi 8 (A tower of strength throughout - extremely assured) Harding 5 (although his difficulties in the first half were more due to tactical inadequacy, so maybe that's harsh!) Schneiderlin 2 ('though I may be being generous there!) James 4 (although much better in the second half so I may be being harsh!) Hammond 7 (Workman-like performance in first half, more influential in second) Lallana 10 (What more an be said?! I just hope we can keep him in January) Lambert 9 (Worked hard and deserved his goal - even if it was a bit fluky!) Connolly 9 (Deserved a goal - a constant threat and brilliant composure to turn and shoot in tight spots) Subs Wotton 6 (Didn't do a huge amount, but couldn't be much worse than Schneiderlin!) Bart 7 (Had very little to do but coped fine) Antonio 5 (Very clumsy and fortunate not to get booked. Didn't offer much threat.)

Really? How did you get back so soon? I thought I would probably be the second person back after droping Stu home, but looks like you beat me as I only got back about half an hour ago! I assume you haven't just got back to the Isle of Man?!! Anyway, I enjoyed the match tonight - our support was absolutely brilliant. I would say that our supporters were singing for at least 80 of the 97 minutes of the game (allowing for injury time at the end of each half). In terms of quality, would say some of the team were a bit disappointing in the first half, but the second half display was great. Man of the Match was Lallana without a doubt, with other notable contributions from Lambert, Connolly, Jaidi and Davis. Lallana's goal was an absolute peach! Before he limped off Davis made a couple of wonder saves that kept us ahead. In fact he ws possibly injured making the second of these. If it weren't for those saves, th match could have turned out very differently. Schneiderlin was the biggest let-down unfortunately. He contributed absolutely nothing until the start of the second half and it was no surprise that he was the one substituted. James had a poor first half but a better second half. Harding was pretty exposed in the first half, but it was very noticeable that Pardew made a couple of tactical changes at half time and Hammond and Lallana between them gave him some cover in the second half.

There were some positives... Antonio was pretty threatening down the wing and his throw-ins scared them every time!

I've never been to Hartlepool even though it's only 45 mins away from here. However, it looks as if there is an ASDA not far from the ground, so I was wondering whether that might be a good place to park. Anyone know? Also, are people congregating at any particular pubs before the game? I see on the Football Ground Guide that the Jackson's Wharf pub is supposed to be ok for away supporters and is also close to ASDA. Has anyone got any helpful experience??! Cheers!

I will be there... but then it will only take me about 40 minutes to get there from here! C u there!

When I was little I used to listen to Radio Solent every week and their seeming unbiased backing for each and every south coast club rubbed off on me. While a Saints supporter I nevertheless always wanted Pompey and Bournemouth to do well. However, while I was at university (in Southampton) I spent a year sharing a flat with among others a Pompey fan. Now, on the whole we got on fairly well - except that whenever Southampton lost he would take great glee in being completely obnoxious and rubbing it in with a disdain that I had never seen in my life before. From that time on I began to understand a little of the hatred between the two clubs and began to take great pleasure in every Pompey defeat. So, my point of view is that some of the hatred between the clubs (and yes I know there are lots of other reasons!) seems to have been sparked by the obsessive hatred & jealousy that Pompey fans developed in their wilderness years back in the 70s, 80s and 90s. Having once been the bigger club they couldn't cope with seeing our success (especially in the 70s and 80s) and responded with infantile jealousy. Then as this became more and more purile, so more and more Saints fans in coming into contact with Pompey fans responded as anyone would and grew in reciprocal contempt for them. But, to answer the original question, while I would say that I take joy in seeing Pompey lose and would not be bothered if they went bust, I would not in reality 'hate' any Pompey fan. Instead I would say that I would hold their club and their support for their club in contempt. The fact is that my parents and sister now live in Portsmouth (within walking distance of (Should be) Flattened Park) and they have friends who stick up for Pompey, because that is where they have always lived. Those particular people are really nice people. Similarly, I have a couple of friends who are keen Pompey supporters who regularly go to watch them play. And they are really nice people too (despite our occasional banter!) So, no, I am with you - I dislike the club and enjoy seeing them lose; I take glee at their current troubles; but I don't really hate their fans.

There's so many here... but how many will actually get sung? I reckon someone should make it their intention to get ALL of the above sung!! lol

Are you suggesting that ML should quit the club? Or are you just suggesting that St Mary's Church should never have set up a football team in the first place?