Saints won their first game in months, but had to do it the hard way after going a goal down in the early minutes showing great fighting spirit.

There were a few bemused faces in the away section at the Hawthorns when the Saints team was announed, there was no place for Pierre Emile Hojbjerg who was arguably the man of the match against Brighton and Saints most consistent performer in recent weeks, but Mauricio Pellegrino was at least showing an attacking attitude with Guido Carrillo getting his first start.

But Saints once again made it hard for themselves in a manner which is becoming all too familiar, with West Brom taking the lead after only 4 minutes, Hegazi losing his man and heading home unmarked from close range.

To their credit Saints battled hard and got a grip on the game, but for all their effort they rarely looked like getting back on level terms until suddenly five minutes before the break the game and indeed perhaps Saints season turned on its head.

Firstly Mario Lemina fired home from distance to put Saints level and then Jack Stphens atoned for his early error by heading home for his third goal in three games, Saints went in at the break in a far more buoyant move than they might have expected for most of the half.

After the break Saints clearly had their verve and confidence back and when James Ward Prowse fired home from a free kick, there looked like only being one winner.

However after complete domination of the second half Saints again shot themselves in the foot and it was another case of poor marking in the box.

But unlike at Watford when they surrendered a two goal lead, this wasn't going to happen in this game, Mario Lemina led by example in the centre of the midfield and he was helped by every other player in a Saints shirt.

This was a team performance of the highest order and the manager for once helped with some astute substitutions, with 15 minutes to go on came Long for Carrillo to defend from the front and he should have put the game beyond doubt when firstly he was denied a clear penalty when bundled over in the box and then he headed over from close range.

Then in the final five minutes Pellegrino broke the game up with a couple of changes that stopped any momentum the home side might have hoped to get in an attempt to drum up a flourish in a puzzling five minutes of injury time.

I have been saying for a long time that this is a good Saints side, but it is just poorly lead, this game showed that when they play as a team Saints can win games and can pull away from the bottom three.

This performance still had it's issues, the two goals conceded were sloppy, but the plus points in this afternoon far outweigh the minus's.

Again no one had a bad game out there, but this time we played as a team and Mario Lemina played a big part in that, he was a leader, he seemed to keep the team going not just by his physical presence but his performance, he never gave the ball away cheaply and he had the confidence to hold it and run with it even under pressue and his team mates responded in a similar fashion.

Of course this was a West Brom team who are on a run that was on a par with ours going into this game, but it was always going to be a tough ask to go here and win especially given that it was an emotional day for the Baggies and their supporters, would that atmosphere carry the day for them, the answer was no and now we have something to build on.

Hopefully now Saints can move forward, their is a spirit in the side that wasn't there a few weeks ago and indeed for most of the season, there is still a long way to go that cannot be denied and indeed one swallow doesn't make a summer, but now there is at least some light and maybe it will get the supporters behind the manager and the team so that we can move up the league.

The table looks a lot better this morning Saints up to 14th and a real pity that if we hadn't been cheated out of three points at Watford that we would now be 11th and relegation would be far off, we now need to make sure we don't drop back down.

Saints first need to get out of relegation trouble, maybe they can do something in the FA Cup to end with a flourish, do this and then we can have the post mortems in the summer.

Photo: Action Images

lemmsy added 15:06 - Feb 4 If j Rod’s was a penalty then you’ll get 10 pens per game starting with the shove on Shane
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DorsetIan added 15:14 - Feb 4 Such a great performance and result. It's a shame the next game is such a difficult one, but we will go into it with confidence and optimism. It is frustrating that we keep conceding from high balls into the box but I think we need to stick with Stephens and Hoedt. They are both only 23/24 and still learning. If we are frustrated, imagine how they must be - and you can bet that they will be doing everything they can to improve. They deserve support and patience - Stephens particularly has a fantastically positive attitude on the pitch and it was Hoedt who started the shirts into the crowd, which was a great gesture. I think we need to remember too, how many other 23/24 year olds we have in the first team - PEH, JWP, Boufal, Redmond, Lemina. All of them are going to get stronger physically and all of them are going to improve technically.

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SaintBrock added 15:32 - Feb 4 "some judge him just on goals, its about more than that" In Long's case Nick there is no more to it than that. He's there to score goals, no more no less not to assist. Boufal & Tadic assist and do it well, Long just misses everything he is given on a plate by the others. Just a passenger with the form of a headless chicken.
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IanRC added 16:37 - Feb 4 Would really like to see Carrillo and Gabbi on the pitch together but undeniably a much better day at the office. Still think selling Jay was a mistake.
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landsdownsaint added 17:20 - Feb 4 Amazing that most fans know lemina’s quality yet MP doesn’t , unfortunately he may put him on the bench again for Lfc visit , I want MP to succeed but iv little faith in him , we’re in a relagation battle due to one person imho
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landsdownsaint added 17:21 - Feb 4 Amazing that most fans know lemina’s quality yet MP doesn’t , unfortunately he may put him on the bench again for Lfc visit , I want MP to succeed but iv little faith in him , we’re in a relagation battle due to one person imho
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davepid added 17:50 - Feb 4 I was going to content myself to simply saying: this is the first Sunday I’ve woken up singing , oh when the saints. But I’m incensed by some of the comments on Long. Yes he puts in a shift but not as a striker; yes, he runs his socks off , but his feet are never quite in the right pass at the end of the running. That he has scored just 4 goals in his last 49 league games is not down to a poor run of form; that he reminds me of Brett Ormerod is not a compliment.

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GeordieSaint added 18:49 - Feb 4 A lot of people blaming Stephens for that goal and he could have done better but it was a great ball in and if it is in the six yard box it has to be the keeper's ball. Also, people expressing the opinion that all a centre forward should do is score is quite frankly laughable, what should they do the other 89. 9minutes of the game? Well done the lads though, it feels great not to be stressing out about the football all day Sunday.

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Number_58 added 20:05 - Feb 4 Shane Long always gives 100%? What about all the times he casually ambles back from an offside position like he's out for a stroll in the park? Does my head in.
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davepid added 20:28 - Feb 4 I was going to simply say , that I was singing ,oh when the saints , when I woke this morning , the first Sunday for months that I have. But, I must pass comment on the remarks about Long. He certainly runs his socks off but then trips over his boots when he gets the ball. That he has only 4 league goals in 49 games in the past two seasons tells me he’s not a striker ; when I say he reminds me of Brett Ormerod, I don’t mean it as a compliment.

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BoondockSaint added 21:45 - Feb 4 Great result, but need to keep the momentum. Agree with others that JWP is playing better, and while I have been critical of him, I hope that MP leaves him in the position he has been playing the last 3 of so games where he has been thriving. To that point: Even though I have been getting nervous every time he takes a free (glad yesterday was low, and not the usual sky shot) -if MP has designated him as the one to take frees he should do so until MP says different. That was a sh!t move by Boufal trying to bully him out of the kick and I was happy to see Stephens (who's bigger) grab the ball of Boufal , hand it to JWP, pointing to him saying (it seemed) "He's taking it so F@Ck OFF!" Boufal should ride the bench for a week for that.. A round of applause for the West Brom player who stayed on his feet in the area, he may have cost his team a point, but restores your faith that there are still a few honest players. But while on the subject of Sportsmanship : If I'm happy because Spuds dove all over the play to rob the Scouse (and their equally no-class manager running up and down the field before the game is over) does that make me a bad person?

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1962saint added 23:21 - Feb 4 Saints are still in a precarious place but one big plus point, not been mentioned, is that we have an almost fully fit squad (only Charlie Austin to come back). West Brom had 7 first team contenders out injured yesterday whereas we had 7 full internationals on our bench. I think that the rotation policy (sometimes criticised) at busy times has had benefits. I think this could prove decisive in the last 12 game run in.

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SanMarco added 23:22 - Feb 4 No Boondock - it means that, like the rest of us, you now hate Liverpool more than you hate the Spuds. And wasn't it nice to see Van Dick give the penalty away...
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Jesus_02 added 10:26 - Feb 5 One of the few times I've rated one of Nicks comments ;) I feel for Long. He IS a striker, and he has always had a low chance to goals ratio but has always made up for it in other ways. e.g. defending from the front and harrying defenders to the point that they lose the ball. The main reason I feel for him is that over the last two years we have simply stopped pressing as a team, he is often played out wide and we just don’t play these strengths. He ends up gallantly chasing shadows and when the opposition defence make a mistake it is rarely punished. He has been a great servant for the club and has never expressed a desire to leave “to further his career “. He should be respected.

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