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Saints V Everton The Verdict

Was this two points dropped or a point gained, its hard to tell at this stage of the season, only time will tell.

Saints fans arrived at St mary's unsure of what would happen, in the end the protests didnt get out of hand and the fans remained supportive of the team, however there were shows of support for Nigel Adkins both at the start of the game and midway in the second half in particular which where taken up by large sections of the ground and hinted that if Saints were to go a gaol down it had the potential to turn nasty.

But a hearty performance from the team helped prevent any crowd unrest, for the players on the pitch they continued where they left off in the second half against Chelsea and put in 100% effort, the next big question though will be whether that team spirit has been dented by recent events, was last night a one off with the squad doing it for Nigel so to speak, or is it a case of business as usual for the players.

Mauriccio Pochettino for his part kept the staus quo, understandably restoring Rickie Lambert to the starting line up with the needs of the game being different to those at Chelsea and Saints put in a blistering first half performance that should have seen a goal, the second half was more even, but Saints always seemed to be the side more likely to score and Everton didnt appear to want to get into top gear, preferring to hold and look for the chances on the break, this they almost did on a couple of occasions, the first when Jelavic missed his kick with an open goal at his mercy and the second when Boruc saved well when Anichebe burst through.

But perhaps on one count this was a good point for Saints, Everton dont lose many games on the road and are tight and well disciplined, they came and did their job and Saints held firm and did theirs, although it should be noted and im sure our new manager did, that again as the two aforementioned chances showed, a tight performance at the back was still marred with lapses that could have cost us goals.

But the first reaction of many was the disapointment of not getting all three points, it would have made the league table that much better reading, but overall with all things considered this was perhaps a good point, we still have a lot to do before survival in the Premier League is assured and this was only a small step in that direction, as I said at this moment in time we really dont know whether the sacking of Nigel Adkins will turn out to be a disaster or the great step forward the Club PR would have you believe, only time and the next few months will show us that, but the foundations are there and give us that strength and we should never forget who put them into place, thanks to both Alan Pardew and Nigel Adkins

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