It would please me greatly if our away games didnt seem to always follow the same script.
The next two weeks will show whether this result at Pride Park was a well earned point or yet another case of Saints throwing away points on the road due to slack defending.
On first glance you would assume that its the former with two top three teams going head to head, however I just have the feeling that we are a much better team that Derby and should really have left Pride Park with all three points.
Once again we found ourselves playing catch up as the home side caught us cold in the opening minutes and had us at sixes and sevens to open the scoring, OK some will point to the fact that it may have been offside, but the record books have it down as a goal so we have to look at the harsh truth.
After the goal we took command and rarely relinquished it or looked like conceding again for most of the match, we created plenty and Derby had their keeper and a couple of goal line clearances to thank for not conceding more than the one that they did, possibly Rickie Lambert's best taken goal of the season in the way he took in in his stride ghosted past a defender and then finished clinically.
But the fact does remain that our away record is now cause for concern, this made it only two points out of twelve away from home since our two wins in the opening three games of the season, they were over two months ago now, we now have the worst away record of all the clubs in the top six and if we wish to remain at the top, that has to change and soon.
I am sure that there will be the usual voices shouting at me that this was a top of the league clash and that we are top etc etc, to that i would say, yes this was a good performance, but it wasnt a good outcome, we had a real chance to open up a big lead at the top but didnt take it.
This is a very open league at the moment, there are around 15 clubs capable of putting together a run at promotion, every point is vital its fine sitting back and saying that we are top what more do I want, but the fact is as we found last season, promotion is won by the teams that quietly turn defeats into draws and draws into wins on the road and we havent started to do that just yet.
We now have three big games, we have to win at least two of them, otherwise if we are not careful we might just find out that we are no longer top of the league and maybe far worse, lets stop resting on our laurels, cut out the lapses in concentration away from home and keep ourselves right up there.