Saints did what they had to do and more in a win against Burnley that was pretty comprehensive. But did Billy Sharp score the second or not ?
The question on most Saints fans lips at kick off though was why was Jason Puncheon left out of the starting line up ? After going to great lengths to broker a peace between the player and the club followed by two decent performances from Puncheon himself, many Saints supporters expected him to get the nod ahead of Guly, however this would not be the case and the conspiracy theorists had a field day speculating as to why !
Selection wise though Nigel dkins got it just about right, apart from Guly/Puncheon there wouldnt have been too many in the ground who would have picked different players in the other 10 positions, it seems that Adkins has learnt a few lessons from the past few months, instead of tinkering he went for a solid line up with what most would consider just about his best XI and this stability paid off and although one win doesnt yet mean we are back to our best, it does mean we have now put together a three match unbeaten run in the League and whilst five points from those three games isnt quite the ratio we need, its getting back there.
The side looked like it wanted to play and win from the very start and the early goal settled the nerves and put us in the driving seat, from there we never looked like giving it away apart from one nervy period in the second half when we just couldnt seem to clear the ball, but overall it was a good solid performance with the only real disapointment being that we didnt score more than two.
The second goal was credited to Billy Sharp and certainly he deserves praise for the way he didnt give up what looked a lost cause for him and created confusion between defender and keeper, however not having seen a replay at time of writing have to rely on my own eyes and that of a well known member of this site who was sat right behind the goal and swears that Sharp didnt touch the ball, so whether this will remain credited to Sharp is open to debate.
Nigel Adkins not only got his selections right at the start, but he made the right changes, although the first two were puzzling at first glance, Sharp looked, well Sharp, so many wondered why he came off so early and then why it was Connolly and not Lee, but Adkins went to the known quantity there, Hammond on for Guly in the last 13 minutes might have been slightly strange in that he didnt bring on Puncheon in a like for like, but what it did do was close out the game, Puncheon would have offered more going forward, but Hammond naturally sits deeper, it gave the clear message that we were concentrating on getting three points rather than three goals.
All in all a satisfying result, not just for the scoreline but for the way it was achieved and another clean sheet to boot, making it two in a row and that has to be a good sign.
Again results went for us elsewhere and we have opened up a gap between us and third place, its not plain sailing, we have to negotiate a tricky trip to Upton Park and a draw there would suit us just fine.