Saints went into a crucial game and held their nerve and came out with a point, in the short term it wasnt great, but come the end of the season it could be crucial.
In my preview of the game I mentioned that the most importnat thing was not to get three points but to go to Upton Park and leave with not only our heads held high but something we can build upon in our remaining games and we did just that.
In truth it seemed to be on way traffic in the opening exchanges with Kelvin Davis needing to be at his best and the Hammers getting a succession of corners and when the home side got a penalty it seemed the game was about to turn against Saints, it did turn, but against the Hammers as in the melee of protesting players Matt Taylor appeared to push over Billy harp and was red carded for his trouble, yes it was probably a very harsh decision by the ref, but it was a moment that perhaps saved Saints promotion hopes, with 10 men to play against Saints stayed tight and played their way back into the game which was capped by a well worked equaliser, another pin point cross into the box from Fox found the head of Lambert who knocked the ball down for Hooiveld to sweep home.
The game could have gone either way, Robert Green had to make several smart saves and at the other end Hooiveld, emphasised just the points I have made about him when a lapse in concentration let Maynard in for a shot which was well saved by Davis, on this occasion it didnt cost us points, but to be blunt its the type of slip up we have made too many times on the road this season and which has cost us points.
But at the end of the day it was a point that keeps West Ham within our grasp and the chasing pack still just out of reach of us, although six points from our now four match unbeaten run is not great, in the long term this mioght well be seen as our turning point of the season, we have come through a difficult patch, our confidence should nw be restored, we have continuity and players starting to get back into form, this was another hard won point on the road, but we now need to win our next couple of games to really turn up the heat and show that Saints promotion challenge for a top two finish is far from dead