Saints beat one record then saw all the good work slip away in the final part of the game to suffer defeat for the first time in nearly two months in the Premier League.

Saints walked off the pitch at the final whistle rueing their luck as they went down to a Chelsea side who although it could be said deserved their win due to their dominance in possession, in truth rarely did too much with the ball in the final third.

It started well for Saints, in the first half they came through early Chelsea pressure to get a grip on the game, Shane Long missed a glorious chance with a header that went over the bar and he made amends just before the break when he latched on to hestitancy in the Chelsea defence to run through and dink the ball over Courtois for a sublime goal typical of Long's vision and workrate that puts pressure on a back four.

Earlier in the 34th minute Fraser Forster passed the record for a Saints keeper for the number of consecutive minutes without conceding a goal in the Premier League, sadly he would not go on to be in a position to smash the second.

But in the second half Chelsea enjoyed much of the ball but their efforts where often from range and often well wide or well over the bar.

Saints were having to put in a shift but they were doing so and making sure that their opponents could not make possession tell.

But the game would turn on two key decisions and neither went for Saints, the first was when Charlie Austin appeared to be brought down in the penalty area, but the referee waved play on seemingly afraid to give a decision which would have meant sending off the culprit, in truth he shirked his task many times and failed to get on top of Chelsea's blatant cheating both in fouling Saints players and feigning injury, the fact that the Blues only had one booking perhaps tells the story of the referee's game and his failure to keep control of it.

Saints were having to concentrate and dig in as the game went into it's final 15 minutes, but it looked like they would be able to get through, it needed something to break their concentration and it was another refereeing decision that did this.

Firstly the linesman flagged for a foul on Cedric Soares and then Saints seemed to feel that the ball had gone out for a goal kick before being passed back for Fabregas to put in a curling shot that seemed to catch Fraser Forster in two minds and on the wrong foot, it was a soft goal and an ironic one for the big Keeper to concede his first goal since returning from injury.

Certainly Saints should play to the whistle and in most respects they did, however the concentration was broken for just a split second and Chelsea took full advantage, we cannot complain, we just have to learn from our mistakes and move on.

It was backs to the wall stuff now and even the arrival of Sadio Mane to try and give an outlet up front to chase and harass did not do much to work, however Saints were digging in and looked to have come through.

With James Ward Prowse stripped off and ready to offer fresh legs to the cause Saints were desperate to get him on but the ball just would not go out of play for them to do so, a corner was conceded and ightly you do not make a change when defending a corner, sadly JWP would come on trying to save the game not trying to keep it tight to win a point.

Again perhaps only the second slack moment of the day from Saints but it was enough and the game was lost as Ivanovic headed home with little challenge.

What this Saints side did not deserve though after the six game unbeaten run was the reaction of a large part of the home support, yes the goal was a blow but there were still five minutes to go with injury time, yet around a third of the crowd headed for the exits.

This was so wrong on many accounts, firstly they should have stayed to try and rally the side for an equaliser, secondly they should have stayed and acclaimed it for the unbeaten and Fraser Forster's record of not conceded.

I understand the pain and frustration that every Saints fan felt, I felt it myself, but yesterday some forgot what being a football supporter is about, it is not just about the good times but the bad ones as well. Sometimes draws have been snatched from the jaws of defeat and great victories won when a crowd has not headed for the exits but got behind the team.

Saints fans have been magnificent this season both home and away, these things happen from time to time lets not make it a habit.

So the unbeaten run is over, in some respects it is a burden off our back, lets now start the next run and make sure that this defeat is just a blip on the season and nothing else.

Photo: Action Images

TeamCortese added 11:12 - Feb 28 The truth is we deserved at least a point if not all three for our defensive display alone. The reason we didn't get anything was a combination of incompetent refereeing, Fraser Forster not making when called upon and our upfront not being as good as our defence (with the exception of Shane Long). Whilst I believe Fraser Forster has had a major impact psychologically on team morale I don't think that translated with his performance yesterday. On this occasion I'll give him the benefit of the doubt but to be honest he didn't have much to do yesterday and the goals Chelsea were very soft. With regards to upfront Pelle's head not really in it anymore and the same could be said for Mane. I couldn't understand Koeman's reason for replacing Pelle with Long when it should have been another midfielder or possibly Mane. Pelle offered nothing when he came on. We needed our upfront to hold the ball up and reduce the pressure on defence and he didn't do that. On a more positive note there's still hope for a top 5 finish and we should put into perspective that the current EPL champions needed the referee to win the match. So that speaks volumes of the team performance. We march on :)

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sidsaint added 11:37 - Feb 28 We had the game won until Chelsea reverted to their spoiling tactics, feigning injury etc. Naive Saints fell for it and when Long went off we lost our shape. Long should have been replaced by Mane not Pele as speed was causing Chelsea problems. All in all we had a very good first half and Clasie and Romeu were excellent. Refs decisions did not go our way so no change there then. Next 2 games will be difficult against sides in trouble but we need to get our winning ways back to regain our momentum and keep pressure on the likes of West Ham for a top 6 finish.

5

SaintBrock added 12:01 - Feb 28 TeamCortese; Long was taken off because of a thigh strain but Koeman knew that Austen could only do about 65 minutes and would have to be replaced by Mane as part of the match tactics to give different sort of striking option. Losing Long was not part of the plan and had he brought on Tadic instead of Pelle we would no longer have a target man and bully boy to occupy Cahill. Simple as that. There is nothing else on the bench. What was pleasing is the more mobile asset of Charlie Austin's performance in the mold of Jat Rodrigues, the coaches are not prepared to let him be just another static target lump. We seem to be majoring on fast running dynamic strikers but where are the gifted ball players who (like Chelsea) can hold the ball up and knock it around with confidence in the final third and wait for an opening to appear. This long ball approach is not working and we are not scoring and so one goal will not win it for us against better class opposition like the recovering Chelsea team.

0

saintsnutcase added 12:47 - Feb 28 We could have got at least a point with a better ref but we didn't really deserve anything. Chelsea totally outplayed us in the second half. Fraser should have saved both their goals. No comment about Pelle!! We missed Wanyama when we had to close the game down, But Clasie was brilliant again. He can play.
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simmo400 added 19:54 - Feb 28 Think a point would have flattered us. I wonder sometimes why we play so deep. No one pressures the ball until the penalty error , this will make us vulnerable to shots deflected or what ever. Surely we need to pressure further out. Disappointed as this game would have seen us measure ourselves. Shame we failed the test.
2

Whatsforpud added 23:19 - Feb 28 Nightmare first goal for Forster, not knowing whether the advancing forward is going to reach it or not. Seen many goals like that go straight in. Re the second goal, that was the sort of shot he was saving at Arsenal, Thought Van Dyjk had been immense throughout, and it was a surprise that he was out-headed for that goal.
1

BoondockSaint added 23:36 - Feb 28 Having time to cool down. I think we would have been lucky with a point. Our first goal was due to their defenders' mistake and their first goal was due our defenders' (and goalkeeper) mistake. Their winning goal was due to their continual pressure from about the 60 minute mark. If I was watching two teams I don't care about I would not been bothered with the ref not calling a penalty. Only problem is, if it had happened at the other end of the pitch, you can be sure Saints would be called for a penalty. As I have mentioned in other posts, Chelsea is a good team with very good players, the bad spell was just the (Diego) Costa Nostra throwing games until they got Jose sacked. Now that he is gone, all those players are putting in a full shift. Speaking of the little son of a bachelor, the refs are aware of his reputation, and yet don't keep an eye on Costa, or even better, the opposition put a hard man on him all game long.

1

Alehouse added 07:45 - Feb 29 Two soft goals for all the reasons mentioned above, but we didn't deserve much from this game. We lost control when 3-5-3 became 5-3-2. Targett in particular dropped too deep leaving a tiring Romeu, Classe and Davis completely overwhelmed in midfield by Willian, Hazard, Fabregas and Michel. You can't give that much space to players of that class and expect to come away with the points.

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schatfield added 08:41 - Feb 29 Great first half, frustrating second half sums it up. Weak from Fraser for first let in. Oh well, at least City won the cup giving the 6th place a chance for Europa.
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SanMarco added 12:07 - Feb 29 I am happy to take a "these things happen" approach. It is deceptive playing a team in Chelski's position - they are after all league champions. Frazer was bound to make an error at some stage and the referee didn't help (not sure I would agree with 'as always' e,g. Yoshi's recent attempts to give away pens). This wasn't a match like home vs Liverpool last season where ref errors 'cost us the match'. Chelsea deserved at least a point and let's face it with 5 mins left most of us would have happily taken a point if that mythical person that 'offers' such things had come along...

1

BoondockSaint added 15:02 - Feb 29 schatfield-Even better, it was on Lalana's miss in the shoot-out!
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