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Saints At Watford The Verdict

Saints started with Shane Long scoring the fastest ever Premier League goal and finished by conceding what is fast becoming the traditional last minute sickener.

This was one of those games that for Saints have been too prevalent this season, ahead of the game most Saints fans would have been happy with a draw, but at the end they felt sick due to once again conceding a last minute goal robbing us of points.

Shane Long charged down a clearance from a Watford defender and lifted the ball over the keeper to score the fastest ever goal in Premier League history and give Saints a 7.69 seconds lead.

From then on the game settled into a a familiar pattern with plenty of possession but doing little with it as they tippity tapped little passes around the edge of the box, but we dug deep and kept them at bay.

In fact despite being pinned back in our own half for long periods we counterattacked well on the break and could have and should have doubled our lead with both Nathan Redmond and Ryan Bertrand hitting the post in the first half.

As the second wore on Saints got stronger but Ralph Hasenhuttl made the right substitutions and as we headed into the final 10 minutes we looked to be the side that could get the second and goal of the game.

But sadly it would be the same old same old and a sloppy goal conceded in the final minutes, yes there was an element of luck with the ball cannoning off one of their players into the path of Andre Dray who lashed home from close range, but on watching the goal on TV replays it's the familiar picture of a Saints defence at sixes and sevens and not marking their men just at the very time that they need to be doing so, this is the reason why we concede so many last minute goals these days, there is no calming presence at the back to organise and keep the defence focused.

A word about referee Mike Dean who was absolutely shocking from start to finish, yes he was bad for both sides, but he seemed even worse for us even in the final seconds refusing us a free kick as it would have meant sending their player off as he was the last man, he blew up pretty quick after to ensure that yet another poor piece of refereeing didn't get highlighted if Watford went straight up the other end and scored.

If I was a Watford supporter I would be disappointed with the crowd, for a team in the cup final 19,170 is around 2.5k short of capacity, I would suspect that they might take a few more than that to Wembley and a few more who will moan about not getting a ticket.

But a point is a point nearer safety and the other last minute goal, that one at Tottenham meant we creeper a point further ahead of Brighton, the job is nearly done, hopefully we can finish it against Bournemouth on Saturday.

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