Chap in the Chapel

Who would have though that an Ancient Greek philosopher would attract the wrath of the swear filter?

I hear that Garforth's catering is as good as any club in the Northern Premier League Premier Division. Rupert knows what really gets money in the coffers and fans through the turnstiles, so I'm certain they'll bounce back up the football pyramid in much the same way that we did... Look out for news of his plans to outdo Simon Clifford by signing Hera****us...

He did. Current Saints youth player Jake Hesketh plays for Locks Heath CC too.

Locks Heath Cricket Club has the best youth set-up in the area. Three good adult sides as well.

Ghastly. We should wear stripes (or have the sash again) for the home kit. The away shirt looks like a rugby league jersey.

Myself and three others have sat in the Chapel End since 2001, block 20, even before it became the family centre. One of our party has just tried to renew his season ticket and was told he couldn't, as you now have to have a junior ticket as well in order to qualify for the family centre! To the best of my knowledge, the club has not informed anyone of this new rule. I'm going to have to move now to a more expensive area. Not impressed.

Pompey Online can cancel its 'Scummers Takeover Saga' thread... At this moment in time Cortese's power over the club is unquestioned. He has the backing of the owner, his choices occupy every single key position in the administrative hierarchy (playing and non-playing), and he's had the guts to replace two popular managers. The latest incumbent in the manager's chair has gone so far as to pledge his personal loyalty to him as well. Despite fleeting bursts of unpopularity with fans in the wake of the managerial changes, Cortese has managed to achieve a 95 per cent approval rating in a reasonably representative poll. It appears, therefore, that by any virtually any measure, he is doing a good job. So what's been learnt from this mini-episode? It's now fairly obvious that the fans' biggest contribution at the moment is as matchday noise machines. Yes, we bring money into the club through buying tickets and merchandise and in the long-term we remain the real custodians, but this season has been all about making sure that we're part of payout one in the biggest dosh-fest in football history, and this week has been all about making sure that the long-term financial backing remains. We, the people who agonise about these things, are small fry. Welcome to modern football, for better or worse. Although it's a bit 'panem et circenses', a win tomorrow and we'll be heading into a post-season with a good finishing position, a settled squad, a manager who is doing fairly well, an owner who is committed and fans who are turning up because they are enjoying what they see. Right now, Cortese's judgement has been vindicated (I don't particularly want to see what a bad error would look like) and we're in as good a state as we have been in near-on thirty years. Long may this era continue.

Thoroughly deserved win with a good number of positives. Puncheon and Lambert were both excellent, and Shaw is growing with each game. His full debut against Swansea saw him over-committing on several occasions but, a mere five games later, he looks like he's been playing for several seasons at the top level. It's interesting that a few fans think that Cork had a good game today. I thought he was poor for the first 65 minutes and had a strong end to the match. The big improvement is the fact that we've only conceded twice in the last four matches. We will stay up if this continues, as we have the ability to score goals. A win against Sunderland will put us within striking distance of having 20 points after half of our games in the league. Extrapolated, that's 40 points, and that may be enough to get us over the line this year. Stick with Nigel - he knows what he's doing.

Wretched iPad. Clicked 'Yes' when I meant 'No'.

The Premier League's rules made it compulsory for us to have an Academy. It wasn't a piece of visionary thinking by Lowe. What he did do well was maximise what we got out of it for a period of time. It's a bit past the 'dining out' stage for him now though.

Jake Hesketh is a nice lad. Good wicketkeeper as well for Locks Heath CC.

Rational thinking in intermittent supply tonight. 3-1 was incredibly flattering to Reading, making what was in reality a smash-and-grab 2-1 into something apparently more comfortable. The pressure is still on West Ham to change their poor home form though, and even then it's still in our hands... The individual errors at both ends cost us tonight in a big way. Reading punished them as a Premier side would, which they in all probability will be next season. I thought we were decent in possession for long periods of the game, but disappointing finishing scuppered our chances. We should have been out of sight long before Le Fondre scored his first. The lack of a clear first-choice right midfielder must be addressed in the summer - Guly is a striker, De Ridder is bereft of any intelligence and Chaplow's form is too up and down. So good in October and November, he's been off his game for nigh on two months. Cork deserves credit tonight - I thought he was our best player by a long way. We've got enough left to get over the line though. Peterborough have little to play for and I think that a 2-0 win is achievable, mirroring what happened at Palace after another tense occasion. Anyone who thinks that promotion has now gone, with a six/five/three-point gap (adjust according to when you read this) to third, is an irrational fool who does not understand the value of empirical evidence, plain and simple. After 43 games, when we've done so much right, Nigel and the team deserve for this one to have the line drawn under it quickly.

December 2002. A 1-0 win on Sky and a ridiculously unfair result. Niemi's performance defied belief that night.

Superb performance, especially second half when we dominated. Lallana, Fox and Schneiderlin were magnificent. Derby were extremely poor, lacking any kind of threat, and we put them away as ruthlessly as any team we've despatched over the last couple of years. Great to see and if it can continue for another 14 games we'll win this division.

From someone who saw it clearly from the Chapel End, it was an own goal.

Harsh to lose it in that way, especially after a much improved second half performance. We were dreadful for the first half hour and Millwall totally deserved their lead - Adam's goal was against the run of play and we were lucky to go in at 1-1. The formation change at the start of the second half bamboozled Millwall and we looked in control. Once we got to 2-1 I thought we'd see it out comfortably if we could keep it tight for six or seven minutes and try and hit them on the break as they pushed men forward. Instead, we conceded straight away after Harding was caught out of position and it was back to square one. Millwall's third should not have stood, as the ref allowed them to take a free-kick when the ball was moving, having stopped Bart from doing the same thing from a goal kick a minute earlier! More negatives than positives though, which is worrying. Bart's distribution was awful tonight, Harding looks a shadow of what he is capable of, Guly was obviously trying to get himself taken off by conceding a series of silly fouls when on a booking, Chaplow was way off the pace and is not going to be fully ready for several games, we conceded three poor goals and no-one played well enough consistently throughout the 90 minutes to be man of the match. Nigel has got to lift them for Saturday as our luck with results is going to run out soon. The only saving grace is that we've got six or seven players to come in to make us full strength - we were fielding our second string, in the main. Concentrate on the league then, and concentrate hard.

It depends on the match and the situation, but we are a lot tougher to beat with Hammond in the team. It's what he contributes off the ball that adds to his value - he organises people and covers situations. He'll not hit the champagne passes that Schneiderlin is capable of, but he is the team's voice and leader and that carries real value. Both he and Schneiderlin could play, of course - I don't think that Cork is a certain starter.

It's very surprising that Puncheon has been brought back into the fold, but if he can reproduce his form of early 2010 then he'll be welcomed. It's all down to performance - if he's playing well on a regular basis then all will be forgiven as fans never get on the backs of players who are delivering. Woe betide him if he blows this chance though, especially if his attitude lets him down. Mind you, we all thought that last time...

Ouch! We haven't been that bad in a long time. The injuries and suspensions really, really bit tonight and Leicester's hard work completely paid off. They deserved the win and Danns had one of the best games I've seen an opposing player have this season, totally controlling matters. I didn't think Leicester were tremendous defensively but too many of our lads had absolute shockers (Schneiderlin was the worst of them) and we failed to trouble them for any length of time. Lambert, Lallana, Chaplow and Fonte (or adequate cover) are desperately needed back, especially the latter if Hooiveld is injured. The poor run of form has now lasted for two months though and we are looking genuinely wobbly. This is Adkins' second big test, the first having been the 'no blink' contest with Huddersfield in the last two months of last season. He's now got to put us back on the straight and narrow, and quickly. Keep the faith - he passed that first test.

Really interesting stuff, especially on the relative net spending compared with other clubs.

(Sorry for duplicate posting) flashes of excellence and frustrating periods of heavy-footedness. We were certainly up for the game tonight and the levels of effort from several players were excellent, but we were unable to create enough clear chances. De Ridder was probably man of the match as he always looked threatening, but the number of times he got into a great crossing position and then took the wrong option or delivered the wrong type of ball was maddening. Rickie got no help at all from the referee, and his marker should have been set off for persistent fouling, but we should have played to his feet more once it became obvious there was not going to be anything forthcoming. It's one to draw a line under as soon as possible and I expect to see changes on Monday to freshen things up a bit, but this is more of a bad, unfortunate one-off at home than the start of a crisis. Happy new year - let's hope 2012 is as good as 2011 has been.

Disappointing result but let's have some perspective on it. We haven't made a habit of losing at home recently and Bristol City did well, with pace and presence in the right areas and a good gameplan based around outnumbering us in midfield. They will finish a lot higher than 20th. The transfer window is coming at a good time as we can add the reinforcements that we need and perhaps take some of the pressure off Lallana, who is seriously off form, and Guly, who is yo-yoing between

Christmas's two home fixtures are coming at a good time. It's a chance to put an end to this dip in form that is now starting to ring some alarm bells. Every team gets poor runs though - the best ones just make sure that theirs don't go on for too long. Today's result was a fair one, regardless of how annoying it was to concede fairly late. What little football there was in the match came from us, but Pompey kept scrapping away and I didn't think we were secure at 1-0. They looked more threatening once the second target-man striker came on - an option that it would have been nice to have ourselves. I thought Hooiveld and Hammond did well, as did Rickie, but generally we lacked a bit of sparkle, probably due to the tension of the occasion. Incidentally, although Guly was off his game today and could have defended their goal a lot better, it's noticeable how some fans are only happy when scapegoating. Bialkowski last week, Guly this. Have a think about what he's done for us this season and stop overreacting.

The front two saved us today. Rickie and Guly both did well, particularly the latter. He does tend to blow hot and cold but his work rate was excellent and it was notable that he was the one charging after the ball in the last ten minutes, looking for any opportunity to create a chance. Rickie showed his value once again. He really is becoming a Le Tissier-esque talisman. Kelvin must have mixed emotions today. His importance to us after an incredibly nervy performance from Bart has been shown, but I remember about six years ago against Preston he made a similar mistake to Bart's one today, and people absolutely slaughtered him for it, but he's now on the verge of 250 appearances. Bart will rightly get criticised, but writing him off is the wrong thing to do. He'll earn some sympathy from Kelvin, certainly. Blackpool deserved their point though and, ultimately, we've actually gained a point today on the team in second. The home wins run couldn't go on indefinitely and we need to keep showing faith, and hoping that Nigel has a couple of good transfer targets for January, as we do need them. He knows more about football than anyone who posts on this board and if he's backed, then we can maintain our standing as genuine contenders.

A ground-out win when not playing well? Yes please... Hull were good value for the half-time lead and it was obvious that we were unbalanced in midfield without Chaplow on the right. If we must have Hammond, Cork and Schneiderlin in the same team while he's injured then I think we may have to play a narrower diamond formation as Morgan is far less effective when not in the centre of the pitch. De Ridder did well when he came on but he's still an impact player and not a starter. Our best performers were probably the back four, but it's difficult to pick a man of the match for us tonight. Barmby showed his managerial inexperience though - why on earth was that huge bloke who came on in stoppage time not on 10-15 minutes sooner? They didn't have any chances in the second half as they couldn't get the ball to stick up front. Overall a vital bounce-back victory for us though. League positions are dictated by results gained on bad days, not good ones.