Saturday 22nd August 2009

I think the word average best describes Saint's performance in the 1-1 draw at home to Brentford this afternoon. There was some good play, but not enough was done to secure the three points.
Saints dominated the first half, but failed to get many shots on target. The second half looked to be the same story, but Dan Harding broke the deadlock for the home side on 73 minutes, scoring his first goal for the club. The left back controlled a Rickie Lambert header and fired in from three yards out, much to the relief of the majority of St Marys.
17 minutes were left to hold out for victory, but this is Southampton we're taling about and after scoring I couldn't help but feel our celebrations would be short lived. Brentford restarted looking for the equaliser which they deservedly got eight minutes later. Ryan Dickson was given a ridiculously easy passage down the left flank and he crossed for Cleveland Taylor to score from a diving header. Both teams had chances to win the game late on, but the game finished even with the away side by far the happier.

Saints player ratings-

Kelvin Davis - 7 - Steadied the ship when Brentford threatened to nick a winner in the final minutes.

Lloyd James - 5 - Has to take the blame for Brentford's goal, looked too scared to tackle Dickson.

Chris Perry - 6 - Read the game well as always, which made up for his lack of pace, but still a liability in the air.

Neal Trotman - 6 - At last Saints have that ball winner in the air they so desperately need, but he really should have headed home from a corner in the first half.

Dan Harding - 9 - MAN OF THE MATCH - Great tackling, good crossing into the box and capped another impressive performance with his first goal for Saints.

Jacob Mellis - 6 - Full of energy again, but perhaps burnt himself out too soon and was subbed at half time.

Dean Hammond - 6 - The debutant didn't make a huge impact on the game, but was a lot more effective in central midfield than Wotton was against Swindon on Tuesday night.

Morgan Schneiderlin - 6 - His chances were limited to long range efforts.

Adam Lallana - 6 - Often made the wrong pass when he should have gone for a better option.

Matt Patterson - 5 - Showed a total lack of composure in front of goal and was rightly subbed at half time.

Rickie Lambert - 6 - Had a few opportunities, but didn't chase the ball enough.

Subs-

Jake Thomson (on for Mellis) - 5 - Made a few good runs, but gave away possession in dangerous areas and was humiliated by being nutmegged late on.

Marek Saganowski (on for Patterson) - 5 - Had little impact on the game when brought on at half time.

Gregorz Rasiak (on for Lambert) - 6 - Didn't have time to effect the outcome of the match.

Very worryingly, that's just 2 points from Saints first 4 games, still on -8. I hate to say this, but if the team don't put more points on the board soon then we could have another relegation battle on our hands, its obvious Pardew needs to add to the side further with another centre back, a natural winger and a strike partner to bring the best of out Lambert.