In many respects a good point, in others maybe not !
If Saints had not had such an abysmal run, then this point against Cardiff would be quite satisfactory, but in the longer term it means that we have now amassed only 12 points from 11 games and that is still not good enough, however if this point signals a return to good form then i will take it.
Nigel Adkins team selection could not be faulted, ironically it was just the one i had selected myself in yesterdays preview, Billy Sharpe and a couple of injuries aside I dont think we could put out a better side, therefore there was no hiding places and no excuses, we got the selection right, now we just had to get the tactics spot on.
This is probably where we have gone wrong over the past two months and sadly what has emerged is that we only have a plan A and in that respect nothing changed, what also emerged in the first half is that we are shockingly short on confidence and team spirit.
Once again we conceded a sloppy goal, I havent seen a TV replay, on the night Kelvin Davis looked to have been fouled, but truth is he didnt make himself big and strong and on several other set plays Cardiff crowded the six yard box with players having spotted a weak link they looked to exploit it further.
Second half Saints came out with more confidence, they seemed to have the mindset that Cardiff had thrown everything at them and they were only a goal down so there was nothing to fear and to be blunt there wasnt and that has been the case over this 11 game run, all we need to do is get back to playing with confidence and in this respect our second half display gives renewed hope that with the addition of Sharp we can now start winning a few games and push ourselves back to the top of the league.
However with a tough set of fixtures ahead we do have to get back to winning ways and that means getting at least a couple of wins on the bounce and its hard to see that happening in the next three games.
The two players that perhaps contributed the most to our fightback were Jason Puncheon and Tadanari Lee, they did so for one reason, that was they had the urgency and spirit and wanted to play, in truth they didnt produce that much between them in terms of chances etc, but they played without fear and looked like they wanted to be out there and that has to be a positive.
But the same problems still remain, we seem to always want to pass it one time too many, it seems our confidence to shoot when we get a sight of goal has been coached out of us, we are afraid to miss and therefore we are always trying to pass the ball and almost walk it into the net, its fine to play a passing game, but there are times when that has to go out of the window.
But with other results going for us, this wasnt the disaster it could have been, we are still second and there are plenty of games to get our season back on track, however our league position and our last 11 games perhaps highlight one thing and that is what a great opportunity we have missed to run away with this league, now we find ourselves amongst the other hopefuls instead of way out in front, we cant keep missing these opportunitys, we have to take them now whilst we still have the chance.