ll the emotions of a pssionate derby game in the space of a minute as Saints looked to have snatched victory only to cruelly throw it all away.

I am going to keep this verdict short and sweet, if only because i dont want this sounding like a big told you so rant, all season I have been pointing out various things about the way Saints play and the frailties of certain players and many of these facts came home to roost on Saturday against Portsmouth, indeed if they hadnt already done so the previous week at Blackpool.

Starting in the back four, the two centre halfs are always making mistakes, at least one of them sometimes both will commit a howling error in each game, sometimes it goes unpunished, sometimes it doesnt, they are fine against teams that dont apply too much pressure, but when the chips are down they are just not good enough and do not compliment each other, hear howls of derision about clean sheets etc, well we kept a clean sheet at Leeds, but that wasnt the greatest defensive display I have ever seen, one of the luckiest definately, but best ? not a chance, on Saturday our failure to cleanly win the ball and or distribute it meant that Pompey's five man midfield was often able to run at us after picking up the knock downs, look at the second goal for Pompey a poor header with Norris left unmarked on the edge of the box.

Many will say Guly had a bad game, but the fact is Steve De Ridder came on and did absolutely nothing of note, in fact after guly went off Pompey with an extra man in midfield dominated the game for a period, sadly De Ridder is positionally poor and this gave Pompey plenty of room, yes Guly wasnt playing well, but he was in an outnumbered midfield and he did better than his replacement.

Billy Sharp, his tow goals show that he was held on the bench for far too long, you sign a striker for end product and that means goals and assists, Sharp is more a poacher than Lambert and certainly from that point of view he will score far more than he will make, but sadly sometimes supporters only see pace as an asset, hence Tadanari Lee was heralded because of his hard rumning game, which as good as it was, didnt produce much when the chips were down, whilst Sharp was almost ridiculed on this very site about his lack of pace and weight, but six starts plus four as sub and five goals is a great return for a striker, in fact better than Rickie Lambert's if you take out the penalties.

Finally Im afraid i have to bring up Dan Harding, very harsh in that he spent only about two minutes on the pitch and in truth Nigel Adkins didnt have much choice but to bring him on, needing to run the clock down and only having either Martin or Barnard as an option other than Harding, but Harding is a left back and it showed, Norris was completely unmarked for the equaliser, Harding was three yards away marking space, how we could have done with Chaplow or Butterfield at that moment, players who whatever their faults know how to take up positions and who to mark.

This felt like a defeat, worse that that it felt like a death blow to our promotion hopes, it wasnt just the late goal, it was the manner in which we conceded it, on the back foot to a side of loanees and thrown together, they ran us ragged in injury time, just when all we needed to do was remain cool calm and collected, but we were a rag tag.

A look a the league table is a little more reassuring, lets hope we arent going to throw away another good lead at the top of the League as we did earlier this season.

Photo: Action Images

DJI added 09:22 - Apr 9 Some of you should listen to Adkins after the matches and you will get the answers on what you speculate about! 1sthalf we played a diamond formation which is why Guly was not tied to the wing and making surging runs there; he was doing what his Manager had told him. When De Ridder was brought on, they changed the formation to use Wingers more. I for one am fed up of the "Steeeeevvve" chant coming from the crowd at Adkins; he offers nothing better as he doesn't get the ball and run to the line that much and his positional play is awful! Guly did what he was told to do in a diamond formation so some of you mockers should perhaps learn to read the game a bit more before criticising! I personally thought we should have gone with a more conventional 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 from the start as Fox/Richardson were not able to get forward as much as the diamond would propose. As for the performance, I am with Nick on this. We are League Leaders and needed the 3 points, regardless of the opposition and we failed to achieve that. That now puts even more pressure on ourselves with Reading in form. It would be a crying shame if we went up behind Reading as we deserve to be Champions. But even worse, if we end up in the play-off places! Just a short time ago, we held a commanding lead at the top and we have allowed that to wither away; that is not what Champions-elect do. Just look at QPR and Reading in previous years. I am fully behind Saints and want the promotion as much as anyone else but I do feel like Saturday was a loss. Pompey had 3 shots on target and scored 2; we had 8 and scored 2. For a team of our quality, that is not good at either end! "Two wonder strikes did for us" some may say; well where were our wonder strikes from a team capable of them? Nick, sometimes you have been over critical but I feel this time you are right. Champions-elect don't play the occasion, they play the game and move on to the next, and they certainly don't allow the opposition of thrown-togethers grab a late goal in injury time!

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wedontlikeyou added 13:39 - Apr 9 As one from the proper footballing side of Hampshire i have to smile - one says we were a poor side ,another more sensible,reasoned one says we performed It was YOUR w Wembley too - if you bottle it against Reading they will tear u to pieces.We only lost by a goal up there because we sat back - you come out and play against them and they might just make you look silly Try and remember where you were a little while ago and appreciate how well you have done - don't stop cheering your team just because they are struggling.You let us hear you for short periods in the 1st half and it was a decent noise.Why can't you do that for most of the game , get your team to dig that bit deeper! I am envious of what you have as a platform - you support leaves a fair bit to be desired and i could not EVER be envious of that.I know you only filled your ground because the Mighty Blues were in town I wish you luck now we have avoided embarrassment and look forward to the time we may be able to play bubbles again PLAY UP POMPEY

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Vanwho added 14:31 - Apr 9 This is my first time posting on such a site, although I regularly read it, just so I can get a worst case view on things. I have to agree with the other posts in that this is not the time to criticize. It was a derby, we dominated, scored two goals and would have won the game had their wonder strikes not gone in. simple as that. The westham fans are showing us the damage negativity can do so lets not copy them. We are above them on merit and the team needs our support and belief more than ever. It often feels like your desperate to get the chance to say ‘I told you so’. If we lose….we lose, everyone is trying though. The team has enough pressure without us piling more on. Adkins has got us to the top of the league doing it his way and he sure isn’t going to change now. please just put your ego away for 5 games. COYR’s!

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darkangelv2 added 18:59 - Apr 9 Nick, can you stop using the phrase 'the fact is' as it's usually followed by at least one sentence of opinion based drivel. How you can defend Guly any more is beyond me. How you can even begin to lay blame at Harding's feet is frankly hilarious but so predictable.
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