So far most of Saints points on the road have come against sides in the bottom half of the table, this now needs to change and fast if automatic promotion is to be achieved.

Even after Saints great win at Watford their away record is average at best, only Birmingham and Leicester in the top half of the table have worse records and indeed the brummies could equal our points tally if they win their game in hand on the road.

Of our five away wins Watford on Saturday sitting 17th were the highest placed club at the time of our visit and this has to change in the final quarter of the season, we have to go to some well placed clubs and more to the point we have to take all three points, on Saturday we go to leeds in 10th, of the eight who sit in front of them apart from ourselves, we have so far visited five and taken only three points all through draws, the bright spot is that those draws all came against what are now the highest placed clubs we have played, although in fairness Reading were pretty lowly when we visited back in October.

But the statistics dont lie, to take it a little further and add in Burnley & Leicester to encompass the whole of the top half of the league, we have played seven out of eleven possible games and taken only four points out of 21, this cannot be dressed up in any other way than appalling.

On Saturday we have a chance to beat a top side away from home for the first time this season, regular readers know I have always stated that a promoted side needs to win 8 on the road minimum and as we enter the business end of the season my prediction from ugust is still bang on track, we cannot change our appalling record on the road during November/December/January, however we can win at least three of the remaining eight road trips and the sooner we rattle off those trio of wins needed the better as it gives us a distinct advantage in the promotion race.

Of course its not essential that one of those three wins comes against our four opponents in the top ten, of course we do have four visits to bottom half clubs where we can rack them up, but beating a promotion rival is much better as its the proverbial six pointer, but its more than that, go and destroy a rival on their own patch and its a big psycological blow to their own promotion hopes, we have shown in recent weeks we can handle tricky games at both Birmingham and West Ham, we need to now show that we are more than flat track bullies on our own pitch or when we come up against a lowly side in a bad run

Photo: Action Images

Fordy added 12:48 - Feb 29 Our away form hasn't been great but crucially we haven't lost some of our important games. If we beat Reading at home and go up a lot of it will be down to Reading, Brum and West Ham only being able to take one point off us.
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stmichael added 13:06 - Feb 29 Draws away are good if you win at home which by and large we have done. I would take a point saturday all day long especially as they have Warnock at the helm. Follow up a point Saturday with 2 home wins the following week then happy days. Crucially we have not lost at Brum Wham or Reading and that is key to the current league table. We could easily win the next 6 home games which means we can carry on being average away from home and get promoted. Its what we have done all season.

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bstokesaint added 13:53 - Feb 29 It's a strange record we have because although not brilliant points wise, it is an effective record as others have duly noted. I'm wary of Saturday's opponents. It's hard to imagine they could be worse than on the first game of the season. Physchologically a win would be huge as it would put West Ham under massive pressure to get something from Cardiff. I expect Reading will be 2 points behind us with a game in hand by the time we kick off. It's too early to write-off other contenders, but after Birmingham's woeful defeat to Nottingham Forest we're closing in on a 3 horse race for the top 2 spots. With 13 games to go my mid season prediction leaves us wanting 9 wins and 3 draws from the remaining 13 games! I should add that's not what I currently think we need, but I expected we would finish on 92 points. Would take 87/88 right now.

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michaeljoycetf added 15:19 - Feb 29 Saints, appalling, no way, Are you mad?
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SaintNick added 16:43 - Feb 29 four points out of 21 from the top sides is appalling whatever way that you want to to dress it up
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hmmm added 19:23 - Feb 29 Funny what you can achieve when you are "appalling" against the top sides away. Man U won the Prem by 9 points last year, despite getting only 6 points out of 27. Hey ho
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SaintNick added 20:05 - Feb 29 Hey honey funny how people can find an excuse for everything I take it man utd slammed the bottom sides then sadly we have lost away to two of the bottom five and took only 7 points from 15 that isn't great either, I stand by my statement we have to improve our away record if we want automatic promotion or risk missing out and let's be blunt then we would have to beat a top side on aggregate so far unless we win at blackpool etc it doesn't bode well

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hmmm added 20:26 - Feb 29 To use a popular metric, Man Utd averaged 1.9 points per game against the bottom sides. We are currently averaging 1.88.
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SaintNick added 20:44 - Feb 29 So your perfectly happy that we can be so good at home one week and then be at best average away from home the next
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hmmm added 20:49 - Feb 29 Hey I agree with you, we probably need to improve away against the top teams. Just pointing out that it may not be critical. If Man U had got zero out of 27 against the top teams they would still have won the league last year. Fact.
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SaintNick added 21:08 - Feb 29 I did actually point out it wasn't critical but it would be a big plus
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rjh added 22:20 - Feb 29 Would take a point. NW's first home game.
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SaintNick added 22:26 - Feb 29 Neil warnock seems to suddenly have godlike status he is good but has failed a lot too
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st_bangkok added 05:33 - Mar 1 Actually i do not think he has god like status, but he has a good record against us i think and we seem to hate that style of footie he plays. He will have them chasing us down and kicking us to hell etc i am sure. I would take a point also.
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Dperc added 07:40 - Mar 1 We're top of the league, do we really expect every statistic to be excellent, or can we afford a poor record in some areas? Current table suggests the former. Yes, improving our away form will see us promoted if we maintain our home record, but the clubs who have performed better away have been performing worse at home. It doesnt sit comfortably calling this side "appalling" in any aspect. Over half of the league have picked up less points away than we have. We've lost less away than Leeds have at home. Our goal difference is also likely to be top or top two, so there's an extra 0.5 points (effectively). Your point is there to see Nick, but I think this team deserve us to point out the positives rather than exaggerating the negatives.

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Dperc added 07:43 - Mar 1 There are also only three teams who've lost less times away from home. 4 to our 5. Hardly appalling.
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SaintNick added 12:13 - Mar 1 I didnt call the team appalling, I called the away record appalling, which for a top two side it is, also its not about how many you lose, its about how many you win and how many points you pick up
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bstokesaint added 12:45 - Mar 1 I see your point Nick, 4 from 21 is "appalling", but I'm a great believer that stats can be made to fit. Sometimes, it's better to stick to the more straight forward of said stats, i.e. we're top of the league and only 2 teams in the top 10 of the league have taken maximum points off us.
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saintstowin added 19:07 - Mar 1 it can be a little bit worrying looking at the form table including away form, for some. but the 33 game form table is very reassuring if you fancy checking that out.
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