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Saints V Watford The Verdict

It was the late late show from Saints as they once again handed the opposition the lead with a defensive error, but this time they came back and won with a final flourish.

It was a woeful first half that saw Saints in control, but Watford have all the chances due to woeful defending the first of which saw Stephens failing to deal with a through ball and doing nothing other than shin it straight into the path of Sarr who finished with aplomb.

It got worse as Saints almost gifted them a second after Bertrand lost his man and McCarthy made a smart save with his legs.

Saints had most of the ball but the Hornets were resilient and we lacked spark, REdmond tried but nothing was working out and Obafemi has plenty of pace but seems to lack skill or intelligence.

The second half was pretty much in the same vein as the first to start with and it only started to look better after a double substitution just before the hour mark, on came Boufal and Long and Saints were starting to not only run at the visitors but Long was providing a target man.

Ings started to find his game as well, his clever play making space and chances for others, but he would turn from provider to scorer in the 76th minute when Djenepo got the ball and ran at his man, he carried it down the byeline and stabbed it at the near post where Ings darted in, scrambled the ball with the defender and then smashed it home virtually on the line.

It was the turn of the game Saints needed and it raised the crowd and for once it would be a grandstand finish as Ward Prowse fired home a trademark free kick to put Saints in the lead at home for shockingly the first time this season.

A tense finale saw Saints hold on to offer the fans hope for the rest of the season.

Truth is it wasn't the free flowing attacking display we wanted, aside from the last 15 minutes it was mostly woeful, but on a plus note Saints stayed focused, stayed spirited and believed they could get back in it and that bodes well.

The big worry is that it saw yet another awful defensive error gifting a goal and it highlighted that Saints are not a bad side, they just have woeful central defenders and pay the price every game, Ralph Hasenhuttl must be tearing his hair out it doesn't matter who he plays there Stephens, Yoshida or Vestergaard they all make mistakes time after time.

I would say that if we took any two central defenders from any of the other Premier League sides and we would be sat around 10th now, the problem is so bad and it must be frustrating for the team to see good work undone by unacceptable defending.

This game is gone though and we now need to look to Wednesday night and Norwich and a game that can see us pull the teams above us back in sight and could see us out of the relegation zone, if we can have a good December it will set us up for the New Year where a good centre half signing will help us pull clear.

Saints fans can believe now, they just have to stick with the team and accept that things are changing, but on the field they can't till January.

The crowd were superb on Saturday, it needs to be done again on Wednesday and some of the doubters perhaps returning and help make it two wins in a row.

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