A good point that was nearly thrown away at the death due to the diving antics of Grant Holt.
It felt like a win at the end of the game after a great penalty save from Artur Boruc in the final seconds of the game, but in many respects this game was like several road trips before it, a great performance where we really should have had the points wrapped up long before the end, but due to a lack of finishing we didnt.
Mauricio Pochettino raised a few eyebrows with his starting line up, the dropping of Clyne and the playing of Yoshida at right back seemed a strange decision as did the selection of both Lallana and Ramirez and leaving Steve Davis on the bench, however the manager had said earlier he wasnt going to let poor results affect his decision making and this proved the case and thats a good positive thing from a manager, better to have one that sticks to his guns and believes in what he is doing than one that panics.
From the start Saints go to grips with the game although it has to be said Norwich had a few moments thenselves when they could have scored, Saints 15 attempts on target plus 7 off compared to the home sides 3 on and 2 off tells a story of hos Saints attacked with vigour and really should have put a goal on the board, but Norwich could easily have had a penalty a cross flashed virtually across the goaline seemed sure to be turned in by Holt, replays have since confirmed that Luke Shaw tugged him back, for once we got the rub of the green.
Overall though Saints set up was strong, they dominated for long periods and it was only some good goalkeeping a few near misses and to be blunt a few that really should have been buried that meant the game went into injury time goaless, once again though a lack of concentration let us down, but this time it wouldnt prove fatal, Holt was going away from goal with Luke Shaw behind him he suddenly went to ground and the referree inexplicably awarded a penalty, he consulted his lines man who was no more than ten yards from the incident and who hdnt flagged, but this didnt change his mind, in fairness to Shaw TV replays showed that Hold had dived, however hopefully the young left back will learn another hard lesson and realise that in this league you have to be very careful and next time wont get so close when he really doesnt need to, too many players in the league will dive Im afraid..
So with baited breath and injury time now just about up, up stepped the villain of the piece Grant Holt, he hit his spot kick with power and accuracy, but Artur Boruc was equal too it and beat it out, 46 seconds later the whistle was blown for full time.
Once again Mark Clattenburg has to be called into question, the penalty decision was diabolical and with two officials so close to the incident it really shouldnt have been too hard to spot, the only way to stop this blatant diving is to take retrospective action, players caught on camera diving as Holt did should receive an automatic one match ban for the first offence, two matches for the second and so on, I doubt many would continue with this play acting when faced with 3 or 4 match bans for being caught out.
One other thing that I noticed not only watching the game but on checking the match facts after was the amount of injury time played, the decision was given, 46 seconds into 3 minutes injury time, it took 2 minutes of jostling and consultation of the linesman etc before the penalty was taken, the whistle was blown exactly 46 seconds later, of the 3 minutes allotted time Clattenburg in reality played exactly half of that, the ball being in play for only 1 /1/2 minutes in total, I detact a sense of guilt from Clattenburg who sensing he had made one mistake felt that justice had been served and he didnt want to leave enough time for a goal that would perhaps leave Saints hard done by.
A lot of positives from this performance, in the pre match articles i mentioned that this game was about Saints proving to themselves that they can defend and not have lapses in concentration and make errors, they almost did that to perfection, but the fact is the team will probably feel that its luckk turned with that penalty save, that one incident might well be a pivotal moment in this season and can give us the springboard to push on and get clear of the drop zone, there are still tough times ahead, but after this we can have a little more hope.