Saints march on... and top 50 Southampton players

Saints successfully navigated their tricky cup tie away at Bristol Rovers on Friday, avenging their embarrassing defeat in the same place eighteen months ago.

Bristol Rovers 2 - Saints 3

It took five second-half minutes for the impressive David Connelly, granted his first start for Saints after two goals in two appearances as sub, to add a further two to his tally and put Saints in a commanding position. Winger Antonio chipped in with another on 70 minutes, and it is just as well that he did as Bristol Rovers fought back. The win was never in doubt, however, as it was not until two minutes into stoppage time that the Pirates got their second. The win represents another step in the right direction for Pardew's men, who are building momentum with their regular wins both at home and away from St Marys.

On separate note, Steve Keenan of The Times has compiled his list of the 50 Greatest Southampton Players. It is well worth a read and there is a lot of room for debate - why is Jason Dodd not higher? - and I will be writing a blog post in response later in the week. The biggest point of contention is who occupies the top spot. I myself disagree with that particular ranking, but you will have to make up your own mind. Enjoy...

Lambert magic ensures Saints remain unbeaten

Saints failed to make it five wins on the trot away to Leyton Orient on Saturday, but in a way their performance against the Os was just as important as their four preceding games.

Leyton Orient 2 - Saints 2

When wins come in such volume together it can lead to a sense of inevitability, which can be crushing for opposition teams but also lead to complacency in ours. And Saints' slow start on Saturday could be put down to the latter, although it was pure bad luck that caused the Os to double their lead after half time from Neal Trotman's own goal.

But the most important thing is that Saints continued to attack right until the end, in spite of a number of well-created chances going begging. They had to wait until sixteen minutes from time for goal machine Ricky Lambert to eventually punish Orient and score. Promptly collecting the ball from the net he, like everyone else, knew Saints were in it to win it and got the second ten minutes later. Such was the manner of the fightback, Saints would undoubtedly have won had the game been extended - testament to their self-belief and ability.

People may point to this game as a missed opportunity to extend a winning run, but more important is the fact that Saints remain unbeaten. After some bad luck and complacency this turned into a good result for Saints - if they can continue to claw back games such as these while winning the best part of the others a top half finish and more is a very realistic outcome this season.

100 posts... and a few points on the board too

Welcome, at last, to my hundredth post on the site, and what a time to be writing it with Saints riding high following two more victories against in-form sides.

Oldham 1 - Saints 3
Saints 3 - MK Dons 1

Good times really are back at St Marys, with this afternoon's win over Paul Ince's men their fourth consecutive league victory. Last week's win at Oldham was far from straight-forward but Pardew's men dug in to secure the three points, the win sealed by debutant substitute David Connelly's strike. And the new man scored the all-important third again today as the side came back from a goal behind at half time to give the St. Marys faithful something to cheer about.

Pardew praised his side's winning mentality after a performance that takes them to within three points of escape from the drop zone. But the play-offs remain eleven points away and they will need to continue this form over Christmas if they are to be in the reckoning come May. Still, things are on the up at St Marys and who knows what the coming 100 posts have in store - either way, League One ain't so bad after all.

***The first R&W B Videocast***

12 games into the new era at St Mary's, the time has come for Red and White Bill to begin a new era of his own. Assisted by in-house League One expert David Attwood, I have recorded my first videocast, a short interview examining Saints' progress this year. Topics touched on range from the impact Pardew has had on the club to the pros and cons of the Ricky Lambert signing (a particularly contentious area). And in light of Saints' recent spurt of form we will examine what we can hope from this season.

Gary Linekar I am not, but I hope the content will be of interest to Saints fans - feedback would be great, let me know what you think. Most importantly, enjoy.

Here is the link

ps. Apologies for the poor audio, we will sort this out next time.

Progress visible as Saints go on run

Is this a dream? After four years of unrelenting misery on the south coast, things are at last improving for Saints, who yesterday secured their third win in seven days at Southend. However, that was not before a somewhat shaky performance in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy on Tuesday, when penalties were needed to secure their passage to the next round.

Saints 2 - Torquay 2 (Saints win 5-3 on pens)

To describe this result as jammy would not so much be an understatement as an outright lie. After all Pardew's talk of wanting a Wembley final for the fans, his players had a shocker in front of 9,000 at St.Marys. Kelvin Davies was the worst offender, at fault for the two goals which gifted the seaside visitors their half time advantage. And it was not so much a fight-back as a scuff-back as new signing Papa Waigo bundled home two second half goals, neither from further out than a yard. Davies' achieved partial redemption (he really had a shocker) with the penalty save that sent us through. All in all though, a night to forget.

Southend 1 - Saints 3

Still, a win is a win however you get it and they followed up Tuesday's clanger with an assured victory in the league last night. A brace from midfield dynamo and new-found goal machine Adam Lallana added to loanee Neil Trotman's opener to lift Saints to within two points of Wycombe. This spurt of form has totally changed the complexion of the season for Pardew's men, who, after a summer of uncertainty, would be tenth if it were not for the points deduction. Play-offs may be a stretch but survival looks a far more comfortable prospect that it did a couple of weeks ago, which is testament to the work of the gaffer - bravo, Alan.

Goal-fests at St Marys as Saints get positive points boost

Financially debt-free, now, at last, the club has moved into the black in terms of points, too. Saints lie just sixteen points from the play-offs after their two recent games at St Marys, which happens to be unusually goal happy at the moment.

Saints 2 - Bristol Rovers 3

New man Ricky Lambert's former employers are riding high presently and broke Saints hearts at the death on Tuesday night with an injury time winner. Despite a leaky defence, Saints had looked the comfortable winners until the last twenty minutes when the shakes kicked in and they let the lead slip. It brought to an end the side's eight match unbeaten run in disappointing style and Pards was understandably fuming after the result.

Saints 4 - Gillingham 1

Happily, Saturday's goal fest came out in Saints' favour as Adam Lallana goals came either side of strikes from Lambert and Papa Waigo to send the Gills home with their tails behind their legs. It at last carried Saints to a positive points tally for the season and should set the mood for the coming games. With the class we have in the team, this sort of result is exactly what we should be doing to the lesser sides at St Marys and will boost their confidence, particularly Lallana's, who did excellently again.

Following on to an excellent response to the Solent fans' forum, here is a link to an article from the BBC sport website that provides another excellent insight into what is going on at St Marys.

Just click here.

Radio Solent Saints Fans Forum

If you missed it, the BBC have put last week's fans forum online. Trust me, it is a must-hear for Saints fans and Pardew, Kelvin Davies and chief-exec Nicola Cortese give a great insight into what is now going on at St Marys.

Here is the link.