I must say that, despite today's scoreline, I feel much better about the chances of our staying up than after last Saturday's debacle. Today we fought and seemed to have some idea/game plan, whereas against Colchester not one player looked like they had the faintest idea of what their job was. I was lucky enough to be invited to a hospitality box for today's game so was surrounded by Saints fans. They're not all one-sided and several of the people about me said they thought they were weak penalties and, even, "we must have bought the ref". Despite the poor refereeing, Southampton were obviously the more accomplished side, and deserved to win. However I have to say that Natyanga looked first rate to me: it's only one game but he looked the best centre half in a red shirt since Mick MacCarthy (Ian Evans, Larry May, Arjan de Zeeuw, Paul Futcher all included). I hope he doesn't show me an idiot against Hull, but I thought he won a lot in the air, plenty on the ground, and was athletic and mobile. The Saints fans around me also said Hassell looked a quality footballer. It was also nice to see Ferenczi finish off an excellent move and score a good goal. All the people around me were surprised at Nardiello's sending off, and no-one was appealing for either penalty. The referee seemed to get fussier as the game progressed, though Nardy did seem to be bleating a fair bit throughout the game. I can't get to Oakwell for Tuesday night, but if we can play as well against Hull then we stand a good chance of bagging the three points. Please get behind The Reds on Tuesday. A win will make all the difference..............
