It wasn't the goal fest that the previous week's match had been, but in many respects this was a more satisfying result as Saints jumped a place in the table to second.

The pubs near St Mary's emptied before kick off with many supporter s having watched Manchester City beaten at West ham knowing that a win against Stoke would see Saints leapfrog City into second place, the problem though was in the four previous Premier meetings every game had been a draw, could Saints finally find that extra something to beat the Potters.

In fairness I don't think anyone expected to see a feast of goals, Stoke would not be the pushover Sunderland had been and although they were not the long ball side of a year or two ago under Tony Pulis they still had the capability to mix it.

Ronald Koeman made only the one change to last week and that was to bring back Mane in place of Shane long and this would turn out to be crucial with the 22 year old making sure that the disappointment of having his goal last week given as an own goal was only fleeting.

Right from the start Saints went at Stoke and the pattern of the game was set, Stoke being pinned back and looking to go on the break whilst Saints dominated possession getting the ball in the centre and working it out wide for either the pacy Mane or the trick Tadic, not to mention the overlapping Bertrand and Clyne.

But Stoke in the main stood firm and the truth was that for all our dominance and 20 shots at the Stoke goal, only two were on target although the woodwork was tested on several occasions not least when Pelle rattled the upright and from the rebound Mane finished with aplomb for the only goal of the game.

It was not a day for finishing unfortunately, Pelle especially was having one of those days when nothing would go in, apart from hitting the post before the goal, he got a feint touch to a Mane curling cross, but couldnt force the ball in, he had a great header come back off the underside of the woodwork and also saw a header go wide, probably the only chance he had that he really should have scored from, Stoke were resolute though and made sure that we couldn't get too much sight of goal.

As the game entered its final quarter and with Stoke only a goal down there was a suspicion that perhaps they might sneak an equaliser and an underserved point, certainly theu might have done so last season but this term it is different, Koeman did what he does best and made the subtle changes needed, Wanyama was brought on just after the hour to make sure that Stoke could not get a grip on the midfield and in the dying minutes Gardos was brought on for Davis to sit in front of the defence and add strength and height.

This last change although with only minutes left meant that the 4 minutes of injury time were not the danger they could have been, Stoke could not get a grip of the ball and could not launch it into the area and we saw the game out with ease.

In many ways this win was more satisfying than the rout of Sunderland, it was a hard fought game with no hint from those that can't bear to see Saints up there that this was against a sub standard side who imploded, Stoke played well and indeed if they had of won would only have been two points behind us this morning, this made it such a good win, yes it was only 1-0, but that scoreline shows that every man in the team did his job, the keeper and defence kept a clean sheet, the midfield both defended and created and we took our one decent chance when we had it, all in all a good day at the office.

Perhaps that is the measure of Koeman's team, players just don't seem to have bad games, they win as a team and lose as a team, every man knows his job and does it, perhaps one man who emphasizes that is Fraser Forster, he had little to do throughout the game, Stoke could muster only one shot on target throughout, in the first half there were a couple of occasions when you thought he should have come for a ball, but he didn't leaving his defenders to do the job, however in the dying minutes as Stoke looked to try and snatch an equaliser he came and held a couple of dangerous crosses and made sure they didn't get the chance to put pressure on us, again only a small point, but vital as what has made this season so successful so far has been not relying on one or two players, but the team as a whole with the little things all adding up to the sum total.

So Saints march on and we now meet Stoke again on Wednesday with confidence, indeed perhaps playing them away will suit us better, they will have to come out at us more and with the attacking flair and pace we have that could make it easier for us to score than it was on Saturday at St Mary's.

Key Man

Sadio Mane was the key man for me, he won the game with a great strike and offered us pace and a constant threat throughout the game.

Photo: Action Images

landsdownsaint added 10:01 - Oct 26 I thought Mane was great yesterday as was the rest,I feel really awkward about Pelle ! I will never judge a player on one performance again ... He was immense again yesterday .
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davepid added 10:11 - Oct 26 I'm enjoying our results and it is all very exciting and it's great we are second by November and not Xmas, as S lynch predicted!! BUT we are one point better than we were this time last season and there are several parallels with last year such as not playing the best clubs yet, using very few of the squad and almost Foster repeating what Boruc did at Arsenal. time will tell if our squad is deeper than last ,when injuries come , and whether we will be better against the very top teams. But that's to come , I can't stop singing and looking forward to two more games this week both of which I can get to.

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ThereIn76 added 10:16 - Oct 26 Very good analysis Nick. Yesterday showed how effectively Saints defend as a team. Charlie Adam is usually a player who makes Stoke tick but he couldn't get on the ball at all and was substituted. Being able to bring on the fresh legs of Wanyama for the final 30 minutes is such a bonus. One thing that hasn't really happened yet this season is a team putting the defence under sustained pressure. Forster, Alderweireld and Fonte haven't had chances to put in true man-of-the-match performances because the whole team defends so well as a unit and they get terrific protection, particularly from Spider, Cork, Davis and Wanyama. Sustained pressure on the keeper and centre backs is more likely to occur in the December-January run of matches and hopefully then we'll see what good players they are.

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SingaporeSaint added 10:26 - Oct 26 Really satisfying solid win. Thought we deserved more given the woodwork getting a battering. At the other end our defence was fantastic and although many of us fans were a bit nervous you get the feeling our defence were not so worried. Quite simply the boys we have bought in are winners and that is rubbing off. Wanyama change showed excellent management as he bossed it when he came on. Are there 4 teams better than us? Dare to dream! Excellent day and will be smiling on my 8000 mile journey home!

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slynch added 10:29 - Oct 26 Not only 2nd but effectively 3 points clear!
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1970 added 10:30 - Oct 26 Stoke lacked any kind of goal threat what so ever and looking at there bench how are they going to beat us on Wednesday in front of there own fans,should be are's for the taking,if Pelle stuck a foot on Mane's curling effort early on then it would of been a goal fest,good to see some Feyenoord fans there and we won ,shame about laughapool on wards and upwards coyr.
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FrankSaint added 10:57 - Oct 26 Saints are second because they add up to 'MORE' than the sum of the parts. And the whole backroom staff deserve credit and Ron does too for gelling with them so quickly. We do need to use the squad. Be interesting to see what changes they make on Wednesday. Will Reed ever get any gametime and is Mayuka, with his pace, being groomed to be cover for Pelle?
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saintmark1976 added 11:21 - Oct 26 I was at the game yesterday and while I accept that you can only beat what is in front of you I thought that Stoke were truly abysmal as was the referee. How their fans pay good money to support them is beyond me. They wasted time repeatedly before we scored and continued even when they were a goal down.Their only tactics appeared to be to kick lumps out of our players and to lob aimless balls at Crouch,who given the circumstances still managed to have a half decent game. Truly Stoke fans I admire your spirt but you have my sympathy if this is the best your team can do.

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halftimeorange added 14:22 - Oct 26 I agree with Saint Mark regarding the referee. He was awful but he's not the only one this season, most of them have been pants. Personally, I thought Clyne was man of the match. He frightened the life out of the Stoke defence every time he went forward. In the second-half, as the jitters set in we had a spell of giving the ball away. Fonte was the main culprit but both Schneiderlin and Davis did too. The introduction of Wanyama sorted Crouch out and that was Stoke effectively done. I can see us getting a result midweek even with a couple of up front adjustments but who won't want to play?

1

schatfield added 15:02 - Oct 26 Tuesday will be a tough one I think. Stoke weren't that bad,and they did cause us definite problems in the 2nd half, especially Fonte who didnt have a great game at all. Here's hoping we play a full strength side again for round 2.
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SaintDownUnder added 20:27 - Oct 26 if this had been a boxing match then the ref would have stopped the fight after half an hour. That first half is as good as I've seen Saints play. In the second half, because we hadn't taken our previous chances we understandably got nervous and that resulted in it getting a bit disjointed and hurried but really Forster didn't have a save to make. The only worry for me is that we started to look leggy and I wonder whether the internationals and limited rotation of the starting 11 is starting to catch up with a few players? I expect RK to make a fair few changes for Wednesday..... I think this is sensible and I hope (should that result In losing) that we don't jump all over him for not taking it seriously. Pelle was fantastic he out stoked Stoke and gave us a platform to build from. COYR.

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Saintsfaninoz added 07:34 - Oct 27 I only watched a condensed version of the game after the event (That is sometimes all I can get), but it seemed to me that we dominated the game for long periods and were never really threatened. It seems from the reports here and other reviews that we deserved to win by a bigger margin. This result really seems to reflect the character and preparation of the team from top to bottom. This is the kind of win we did not get last season. We have Hull City, Leicester, and Aston Villa before the testing part of the schedule (Man City, Arsenal [twice], Man Utd). If we get 7 points from those games, I will be happy (Hull away the biggest hurdle). BTW, SaintDownUnder, where do you live. I'm in Brisbane. Not many of us here! Tony.

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Whatsforpud added 09:11 - Oct 27 Schatfield, I think Tuesday will be no trouble - Wednesday might be trickier!
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BoondockSaint added 13:05 - Oct 27 Time to stop Forster training with Boruc and Hart! He's picking up their bad habits. That could easily have been goal! I really though RK had put and end with that and he lived by the goalkeeper rule of "If there is an opposing player within ten yards, put your foot through it!"
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BoondockSaint added 13:14 - Oct 27 By the way, did anyone else watch the Spurs game? The commentator (I missed his name) said he was "gobsmacked" that MoPo hadn't made any tactical changes in the second half. He went on and on about it. He mustn't have been assigned to any Saints games last year!
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