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Saints V Huddersfield The Verdict

A flat ending to the season as Saints threw away the lead yet again and lost the chance to jump above Burnley in the Premier League table.

It looked like it would be a stroll in the sunshine for Saints as they took on relegated Huddersfield Town at St Mary's, but if the fans thought that all they had to do was turn up to see a certain victory it seemed the players thought the same.

The game was lively but lacked clear cut chances, Huddersfield were clearly determined to finish their two year tenure in the top flight with a flourish but were still no real danger to a Saints side who lacked the motivation needed to overcome them.

A wonder goal from Nathan Redmond just before half time broke the deadlock and it seemed that there would now only be one winner.

But 10 minutes in into the second half with Saints looking comfortable after a James Ward Prowse shot almost made it two rebounding off the bar can a mistake from Angus Gunn that gifted the Terriers an equaliser, a back pass across the penalty area looked simple for the keeper but he took a heavy touch allowing Pritchard to nip in and win the ball and fire into an empty net.

A bad mistake, but to be honest it happens to the best of keepers and I would rather it happen to Gunn so that he can learn from the error in a meaningless game like this rather than in a match of importance next season, mistakes happen hopefully he will be a better keeper for the experience.

Huddersfield deserved it for their persistence if not for their previous inability to be able to test Gunn.

You hoped that this would be the catalyst to stir the game into life, but the last 35 minutes saw little aside from a Charlie Austin shot that went an inch wide that looked to win the game for either side.

Indeed the only thing to hit the back of the net of the Chapel End goal was the bizarre sight of a pitch invader in the final minutes.

But that was it and all that was left was for the manager and players to thank the fans for their support and look towards next season.

For some players waving at the fans it could be their last goodbye, newly blonde bombshell Charlie Austin looks likely to leave and he might be joined by one or two more from the 18 on duty for this game.

All in all there is no point in analysing this game too much, it told us little that we don't already know, we are at least a striker and a central defender short of a good side, get the right people in next season and it could be an exciting time, but for the moment we just need to appreciate the good work that Ralph Hasenhuttl has done and realise that although this season ended a little tamely, it has still been a lot better than last year in that we were clear of relegation well before the final day and the season before in terms of entertainment.

There are good times ahead, it is now time to stop harking back to the past and what might have been, that cannot be changed, we now need to look to the future and what we can now achieve under Ralph Hasenhuttl.

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