Southampton: December

First of all, Rob will no longer be doing the story with me. He has a lot of College work on so I will be taking over the story on my own. Sorry guys. Anyway. Lets not waste any time.

Hello boys and girls, and welcome back to the south coast for this December update of our quest to take Southampton back to the big time. You join me after I just had my best ever month. In November I won 7 of my 8 games and drew the other, extending my unbeaten record to an impressive 18 games. 15 of which were in the league. That impressive form shot us up to 3^rd in the league behind Peterborough and Sheffield Wednesday. It also got us to the southern final of the Johnstones paint trophy and the 3^rd round of the FA cup. But we won’t have to worry about those, as they’re both in January. So, onto the matches.

Oldham Athletic Vs Southampton
Date: 04.12.2010
Competition: npower League 1
Match day: 19
Location: Boundary Park, Oldham

Line-up: Davis, Richardson, Fonte, DeMerit, Harding, Dabo, Livermore, Puncheon (Lallana 69), Dorado (Lambert 69(Barnard 74 *MOM*)), Holmes, Baxter

To start the month we faced an away trip to bottom of the table Oldham. Paul Dickov’s men hadn’t had the best of luck in the league this season, but we really could show any sympathy, to continue our march on the peak of the table we had to be ruthless. But Oldham actually started out on top, forcing Kelvin Davis in to a couple of smart saves. That all changed on 34 minutes when Andy Holdsworth was sent off for a second bookable offence. That’s when we took charge. We had a couple of chances before the break but it was after when we had our most dominant spell, Hitting the post and bar as well as seeing Tamas Floszmann make a save or two. We got some bad news when Rickie Lambert, who had only been on the pitch 5 minutes limped off with a thigh strain. Luckily this was a blessing in disguise. Lee Barnard replaced him and 8 minutes later he nodded home a Dan Harding cross to finally put us ahead. And on 87 minutes he put us out of reach after a beautiful flowing move found him free in the area to apply the finish. That was it. Another 3 points. And with Peterborough losing to Charlton we were finally in the automatic playoff positions.

Final Score: Oldham Athletic 0 – 2 Southampton

Notts County Vs Southampton
Date: 11.12.2010
Competition: npower League 1
Match day: 20
Location: Meadow Lane, Nottingham

Line-up: Davis, Richardson, Fonte, DeMerit, Harding, Do Prado *MOM*, Dorado, Dabo (Schneiderlin 76), Holmes (Lallana 45), Baxter, Barnard

Next up was a trip to Nottingham to face a County side that Paul Ince had guided to just outside the play off zone. Luckily we weren’t going to have the same problems we had last match. We opened the scoring on 14 minutes when Dan Harding’s spectacular run down the left ended in a cross which Jose Baxter headed past the keeper. Despite the early goal, the rest of the first half was pretty dull, until right at the end of the half when Guly Do Prado’s run into the area was stopped by a trip by Lionel Djebi-Zadi. Lee Barnard tucked away the resultant penalty and we went into half time with a 2 goal cushion. County came out fighting after the break but we put the match beyond doubt on 55 minutes when Do Prado’s free kick snuck inside the near post. To give them credit, County kept on coming, but Kelvin Davis managed to keep them at bay.

Final Score: Notts County 0 – 3 Southampton

Southampton Vs Exeter City
Date: 14.12.2010
Competition: npower League 1
Match day: 21
Location: St. Mary’s Stadium, Southampton

Line-up: Davis, Richardson, Fonte, DeMerit, Harding, Dabo, Schneiderlin, Do Prado *MOM*(Puncheon 80), Baxter, Lallana, Barnard (Dorado 80)

We were back home 3 days later to play and Exeter side who were near the bottom of the league. The first half saw us on top, but once again we were wasteful with chances. In the second half we started to be more clinical. Morgan Schneiderlin putting us in front on 52 minutes with a long range effort. We continued to push forward and we doubled our lead when Guly Do Prado scored a terrific goal following some good vision from Ousmane Dabo. And that’s how it ended.

Final Score: Southampton 2 – 0 Exeter City

Swindon Town Vs Southampton
Date: 18.12.2010
Competition: npower League 1
Match day: 22
Location: The County Ground, Swindon

Line-up: Davis, Richardson, Fonte, DeMerit *MOM*, Harding (Geary 72),Dorado, Dabo (Livermore 72), Do Prado, Baxter (Schneiderlin 83), Lallana, Barnard

This was our hardest game this month, against one of the teams In a similar position to us, In and around the play-offs. The match started pretty evenly, both teams going close early on. We took the lead on 23 minutes when Lee Barnard showed some lovely skill down the right and his low cross found Jose Baxter, whose first touch was superb and gave him the space to apply the finish. From then on to half time it was end to end stuff, with neither team looking assured in front of goal. In the second half Swindon took charge, and only poor finishing and Kelvin Davis’ good goalkeeping kept us in front. Luckily on 82 minutes a Jake Livermore shot was deflected into the path of Adam Lallana who cooly finished, and that finished off the match, a well earned victory.

Final Score: Swindon Town 0 – 2 Southampton

Southampton Vs Carlisle United
Date: 26.12.2010
Competition: npower League 1
Match day: 23
Location: St. Mary’s Stadium, Southampton

Line-up: Davis, Richardson, Fonte (Jaidi 73), DeMerit *MOM*, Harding, Dabo (Livermore 72), Do Prado (Puncheon 73), Livermore, Lallana, Barnard  (Baxter 7) Lambert

Our boxing day game brought Carlisle to Southampton. After beating them 2 – 1 away on the opening day I was hopeful of a good result. The match didn’t get off to the best of starts, top goal scorer Lee Barnard having to depart on 7 minutes with a Gashed arm. We were still on top though, Adam Collin denying Rickie Lambert and Jose Baxter firing wide. The break through did come though, on 20 minutes, A Do Prado corner was headed across the goal mouth by DeMerit and the ball ricocheted off of James Chester and into the net. A scrappy goal but they all count. The rest of the first half was really a midfield battle, Carlisle did however hit the bar through a Kevan Hurst header showing us that they were still a team to be wary of. We came out after half time and looked like a team that really meant business.  We doubled the lead on 47 minutes through a lovely interchange between Jose Baxter and Adam Lallana which ended with Lallana slotting home. And on 55 minutes it was 3  when Rickie Lambert hit a lovely shot into the top corner. Zoko went close for Carlisle late on but it ended. Another 3 goal Victory for the saints. And with Sheffield Wednesday only drawing we cut the deficit to 1 point.

Final score: Southampton 3 – 0 Carlisle United

Brighton & Hove Albion Vs Southampton
Date: 28.12.2010
Competition: npower League 1
Match day: 24
Location: Withdean Stadium, Brighton

Line-up: Davis, Richardson, Jaidi, DeMerit, Harding, Dabo, Dorado, Livermore (Baxter 73), Do Prado, Lallana (Puncheon 73), Lambert

We ended the year with a trip to the Withdean, we were hoping this would be an easy match as fatigue was high. We thought our wishes had come true when Gary Hart was sent off for a vicious 2 footed challenge on 11 minutes. But how often have we seen it, the spirit of 10 men. Brighton took the lead on 38 minutes when Lopez Silva turned in the area and fired home. We came out fighting after the second half and created chance after chance. Lambert, Dabo, Lallana and Livermore all being wasteful. Just when we were preparing ourselves for an embarrassing defeat to a 10 man relegation candidate Vivar Dorado hit a low piledriver from 20 yards to pull us level. We’d maintained our unbeaten record. And although Sheffield Wednesday claimed their 3 point lead back we knew that it was an important draw.

Final Score: Brighton & Hove Albion 1 – 1 Southampton

There were also a few pieces of good news at the end of the month:

December review:
League position: 2nd
Month Form: W W W W D
Top Goal scorer: Lee Barnard (10)
Highest Average: Jay DeMerit (7.47)

23 Games unbeaten
20 in league