Saints V Hartlepool The Verdict

Saints laboured a little but in the end got the job done.

Saints looked a little disjointed at times but given the number of changes made by Nigel Adkins this was perhaps understandable as Saints apart from a funny 30 seconds midway in the second half cruised to victory.

To say they should have notched more than two is an understatement, 10 shots on target yielded only two goals and one of them a penalty, Saints do have to start converting more of their chances if they want to make sure that we dont have another upset as at Rochdale.

Saints had to rely on a penalty to open the scoring and with Pools down to ten men this should really have opened the floodgates, but didnt, indeed the ten men showed they werent going to lay down and should have equalised on 58 minutes only a superb save from Kelvin Davis preserving the lead.

But the game was up on 82 minutes when Jose Fonte headed his second goal of the easter weekend to ensure their would be no tension in the final minutes.

But the real target for the day was the three points that take us another step closer to the automatic promotion spot and that was achieved, the second aim was for Adam Lallana not to suffer any recurrence of his groin injury and again this seemed to have been also achieved when with the game won he was substituted on 84 minutes.

Now to Brentford for a day that could actually see Saints promoted if they win 

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