Saints took a big step towards safety with an unexpected but deserved victory against a Chelsea side clearly with one eye on their Monday fixture.

Prior to the Liverpool game I had a sneaking feeling that we would win that game, I have to admit I had no such confidence going into this one, I hoped that Benitez would pick a weakened side, but my feeling was that a draw would be the best we could hope for, luckily that was proved wrong as with Wigan winning defeat would have seen us only one point away from the botton three, but we now keep our heads well above water and with the added bonus of dragging a few teams below us who perhaps thought that they were not going to feel the drag of relegation around their feet.

Saints were weakened by injury with Adam Lallana failing a fitness test, but Mauricio Pochettino didnt opt to keep Ramirez in the side but went for a more workmanlike line up with Steven Davis in the side, this paid dividends for the opening goal, rightly most of the plaudits went to Jay Rodriguez for the way he fashioned the move and finished it, but Davis should be recognised for his part, his simple ball in the one two move had to be accurate and well weighted and it was.

Sadly though the defensive lapses were still there, we dont cover our left side enough and our marking at set pieces is at times woeful as it was for Chelsea's equaliser, Jos Hooiveld lost his man and fell over in his confusion leaving John Terry with a simple unmarked header.

But if home fans though that this would be the start of a Chelsea comeback, as it was in similar circumstances in the FA Cup, they were to be pleasantly surprised as two minutes later Rickie Lambert scored a free kick that was a trademark of his first two years at St Mary's but havent happened enough since, a great block buster 35 yard freekick into the net.

At the break there was another shock as Artur Boruc didnt re emerge and was replaced by Kelvin Davis, Kelvin didnt do too much wrong, his kicking was a bit suspect, but the only real save of note he had to make he made well.

This was perhaps Chelsea's downfall, their lack of chances, whilst they enjoyed a lot of possession at times going forward and played some lovely passing football, in the final third they seemed to prefer snazzy tricks rather than being direct and testing our defence and Davis in goal, they lacked a cutting edge in that final third, but in fairness to Saints they stuck with it when they didnt have the ball, they kept running and harrying and made sure Chelsea didnt get too much chance to do something with that possession.

Another great performance from Saints who slowly but surely are getting the basis of a good side together, but we shouldnt allow the winning of three points to brush over the fact that the same problems still prevail in the centre of our defence, once again a sloppy goal could have cost us dear, but luckily didnt, with just a bit of tightening up at the back we could really be anywhere between 5 -10 points better off than we are at the moment, hopefully this will be addressed in the summer, but lets make no bones about it, we have got lucky at times this season and we might not be so lucky next, we still need to improve.

But to finish on a happier note, the league table makes good reading this morning, but 12th position is still precarious, lose at Reading and its possible that five clubs could overtake us (assuming if Villa win this afternoon) and plunge us right back into the mire, we have done some good work in recent weeks to keep our heads above water, we now need to finish the job by getting a win that will virtually see us safe and then another one that will assure it.

Jay Rodriguez was once again a vital cog in our system and is getting better in every game, ideally Rodriguez would be used as our front man and if he was put there in place of Lambert then Im sure he would be even better, but for now Rickie is not giving up his place as the main striker easily and he is raising his game as well and we are reaping the benefits.

Photo: Action Images

thedelldays added 14:46 - Mar 31 didnt lambert score in the previous game from a free kick?
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SaintNick added 15:10 - Mar 31 Lamberts free kick against Liverpool wasn't great though it got a lucky deflection this one was like the ones he used to score blockbuster into the corner that the keeper cant get near
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slynch added 15:13 - Mar 31 Struggling Chelsea arrived grateful to their temp-ing manager but were only able to field a team of largely veterans. Pochettino, wanting to make a game of it for their 50 or 60 travelling fans, politely left out one or two of the faster players. Saints were soon at them, dazzling the old boys who seemed content with playing "Statues" and it wasn't long before upstart Rodriguez passed the ball into the net. Chelsea put up a spirited reply, though, and even got a goal back after that cheeky John Terry (didn't get his surname) pushed over Hooiveld and headed into the corner. It was up to Lambert to show Lamprey et al 'How do they do it" in this case, to fire in a freekick at a wall; just aim for Torres' hairstyle; he duly ducked out of the way and the ball was sailed in the top corner. Chelsea did enter the carnival spirit of the occasion though, fielding a masked bungling Superhero upfront for the amusement of the kids; and I'm sure the bus trip home was full of frollicks after a super day out on the South Coast. Saints' next struggling adversaries sported their new manager. He showed them all he had learnt about defending from his last job but to no avail, they lost by their biggest margin ever in the EPL.

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SaintNick added 17:24 - Mar 31 Great match report do you want a job
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stmichael added 18:20 - Mar 31 Jay has improved immensely but I would think he would admit Ricky is simply the best . The way he dropped deep to get involved for the 1st goal. Pure class. Look and learn jayrod, you are very lucky to have such an outstanding mentor. You could end up with international caps as a result ok working with srl
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slynch added 18:50 - Mar 31 Ha! Not for all the money in Chelsea!
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OldRed added 22:54 - Mar 31 slynch - Reading's heaviest defeat is 5-2 at home to Arsenal.
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Whatsforpud added 00:22 - Apr 1 With most of the game played in the Northam half of the pitch, the second half must have been the most pressure we have been put under without conceding. The odds of us winning all those games against against Man. City, Liverpool and Chelsea would have been very high. Our previous manager has now conceded 10 goals on a ground in one season - is this a record?
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st_bangkok added 07:00 - Apr 1 It still baffles me how SRL plied his trade in Div 3 for so long, unnoticed. If only we could have picked him up when he was like 22 or 23.
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TimSaint added 11:37 - Apr 1 Yes an unexpected but great win - together with a fantastic team performance overall. Even with a few absentees we were still able to put in a high charged shift and press Chelsea for all but the last 15 mins - which was the only time I was a little worried!! I think you are being a little harsh on Jos. Yes he was at fault for the goal, but having seen the highlights after the match, Terry clearly pushes him and causes him to fall or lose his footing. He did and the rest of the defence did well and restricted the blues to only a hand full of chances - despite the quality that came on off the bench!! I know Shaw had a mare in the first half and was our of position so often - but credit to him on his much improved 2nd half. Clyne also did well and was involved in some good sorties down the right. The central midfield trio were as good as always and Jay Rod is improving and more confident with every game. All looks good and we can go to Reading with confidence of getting the result we need.

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ExiledSupporter added 11:58 - Apr 1 Yes, it was a pretty hefty push with both hands in Jos' back, off the ball - not too subtle, highly professional but why did neither the ref or linesman see it? On the other hand Jos was in the wrong position vis a vis Terry which made the shove all the more effective.
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