Saints missed a great chance to fgain ground on second place.

On the face of it a point at peterborough is not the end of the world, however the manner in which Saints threw away a two goal lead, not once but twice is worrying and more to the point the fact was the goals were conceded sloppily and through defensive errors, sadly the usuall suspects committed those errors. Match stats of 6 Peterborough shots on target and 4 goals are not good, OK two were penalties but 2 conceded out of four is still  pretty bad if you remove the pens from the equation.

But the  team selection was again baffling Nigle Adkins seems to always want to tinker, I have said previously that at the back after finding a winning combination he just cant seem to keep with it, the only constant being Font, could anyone honestly say with any confidence who he will pick in the other three positions next week, good teams are based on a settled solid defence and we just dont have that at present. Evn in other positions, its puzzling, how could N Guessan be one of our better players on Tuesday but not kick a ball in this game ? puzzling 

Peterborough seemed to be content to go very direct and seemed to realise that we couldnt cope with crosses into the box, something that they seemed to be able to do with accuracy, the first goal was a good old up and under, Seaborne should really have dealt with it and to be blunt the keeper should have done a bit better himself.

The second goal was just as bad, we didnt deal with a cross in the six yard box, Harding seemed to think Davis was going to get it and stood and watched whilst Davis just doesnt do that sort of thing, the end result was that there man had a free header when he just shouldnt have, not the first time a ball put into this area has resulted in utter confusion between Davis and Harding.

Saints looked to have ridden their d9odgy spell when they restored their two goal advantage within minutes of the break, however from then on Saints never quite had the same rythym and the hosts seemed to have the advantage, when they pulled one back on 55 minutes, you knew that it would be a long half.

From our point of view it seemd Peterborough were throwing themselves to the ground at every opportunity, the game plan seemd to be to get free kicks and launch balls into oir box, watching a game gives a diffrent perspective that on TV but we did not look like we would defend the again slender lead with calm confidence, we looked  shambles defensively 

Adkins hauled off Harding on 65 minutes and put in Dickson but now Peterborough had the advantage and kept pouring on the pressure, on 75 Adkins again tried to stem the tide by taking off Guly and putting on a right back in Richardson, this seemd to spur the home side on, they could see Saints were on the ropes.  Forte was introduced on 82 minutes to bring fresh legs for Barnard who had run his socks off in an effort to stop them playing from the back, again possibly the wrong substitution. 

But just as Saints seemed to have weathered the storm they conceded another soft penalty, jump up with your arms in the air and you are alwways going to increase the chances of the ball hitting them or at least look like its hit them, when the penalty went in, you felt like Saints might not even get a point with four minutes of injury time left.

The problem with Saints is that there appears to be no leadership on or off the pitch, the players hae the quality but when put under pressure they crumble, I honestly dont believe that Adkins knows his best side, perhaps he now has a luxury that he never had at Scunthorpe and that is choice, he has a big squad but seems to be struggling to know how to use it best and quite often he is getting tem selection and substitutions wrong.

Make no bones about it, having got ourselves into a winning position we should have held on and won, we threw this game away ourselves through, indecision, individual error and a lack of leadership, this result could cost us dearly in the long run, a month ago we had dragged ourselves right back into the equation and were looking at cementing our second place, lose to Carlisle and we could find ourself out of even a play off spot, this game was nnot just about the points total, but about making a statement of intent, we finished the day making no ground on the top two, but seeing Huddersfield increase their lead on us and some of the chasing teams also gain ground.

Our last four games have seen us pick up just five points and that is not good enough for a side who should really be winning this division easily with the squad we have on paper,        

Photo: Action Images

hortonsaint added 11:37 - Feb 6 Sadly I'm struggling to disagree with you on any of this. Seriously though I the selection of Seaborne was made on the basis that Peterborough have a mobile forward line and that he would deal with this better than Jhadi-to be fair that made sense but sadly Seaborne had a 'mare. Yes Kelvin should have done better with the first and the second is probably symptomatic of all you've been stating this season and Bart would probably come and taken the cross. There-I've brought myself to agree, hard as it was!

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Andylad63 added 12:01 - Feb 6 I'm in agreement with Horton despite my deep held belief that Saints should show some respect to Kelvin especially over his actions during our darkest days and subsequent salvation. His readiness to give up premiership wages if not first team football was admirable, I will remain impressed by that attitude. However i do beleive it is time to give Bart a chance.
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suttonsaint added 15:51 - Feb 6 Fair report apart from Barnyard in my opinion.Must be the difference between being there and watching it on the tv because i didn't think he made any decent contributions and went missing for most of the match.I also think that Chaps deserves a mention if we're talking of people running their socks off.
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sholingred added 16:22 - Feb 6 Lets keep kelvin in the team and not get promoted,because he could have gone to west ham to sit on the bench,this good shot stopper rubbish people say he is,will keep us in this league another season,if bart is not the answer get in another keeper,Nigel pearson realised he was a weak link,and replaced him with a loanee Richard wright,i am fed up with giving stupid goals away.

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stmichael added 17:29 - Feb 6 2 0 coasting seabourne has a make.4 2 coasting seabourne has a mare. 4 3 seconds to go chamberlain has a mare. Why the fook are we blaming the goal keeper? Q did the league one professional footballers vote kelvin as the best goal keeper in the league last season? A yes q do some of you think you know better than the pros? A yes. I respect your right to an opinion however I find some of them utterly ludicrous.

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sholingred added 17:44 - Feb 6 The league one proffessional footballers voted Dickson and Richardson the best fullbacks in the division but are not in the team,Davis gets beaten at his near post,goalkeeper no no,the cross for second goal,30 yards out and hanging in the air,no attempt to come and catch or punch the ball,pathetic goalkeeping full stop,and if we continue to let this continue,div3 next season,simle as that as Nigel would say.

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SaintNick added 18:14 - Feb 6 Because someone has played professional football does not mean they are best qualified to give an opinion on it, as the old saying goes, you dont need to have been a horse to be a jockey, Jason Puncheon was also in that pfa team, has he even had one performance for saints this season that would merit him being picked if he was still here ? I was surrounded by people yesterday screaming at kelvin second half to come and get the ball its a problem we need to deal with it

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splurty added 18:31 - Feb 6 Very strange after nguessan making an impression at Exeter he then plays no part,and can someone tell me why we are not playing Martin at centreback as seabourne is just not good enough ! Also we must start Dickson and Richardson as Harding away from home is so suspect it's untrue .Gully too has now dissapointed in the last few games ,but even though we where lucky at Exeter we have picked up 4 from 6 in two tough away games ,with Hammond back and Adam back on sat we should be fine . Still a long way to go . COYR

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channonite added 21:21 - Feb 6 I am beginning to wonder if Seabourne looks worse because of the confusion and indecision that Davis is now causing with his defence. This is almost as bad as when Baird used to lose his rag with Davis on a regular basis. Certainly watching the last couple of matches on TV I was certainly happier and felt more relaxed with Bart in goal, even though I think that Davis is the better keeper. The conundrum seems to be does Adkins rest Davis and put potentially a worse keeper in the team?

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yateleysaint added 22:23 - Feb 6 I agree with m
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yateleysaint added 22:31 - Feb 6 Can't you edit these? I agree with most of Nick's article. Davis, Seaborne and Harding were poor and Saints had several chances to clear before the ball struck Oxo. I thought Chaplow had a really good game but the dive was a letdown. I think events like that can spur the opposition and make the ref even things up. That ref was clearly obsessed with penalties. The conditions were difficult and Saints have a decent away record. It's the slip ups at home that have really cost them so far. A win against Carlisle will get them back on track. I think it could come down to the play offs but I still believe Saints will go up this season.

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SaintNick added 22:58 - Feb 6 Channonite makes a good point, but I would say that an inform average keeper is usually better than an out of form good keeper, not that should imply I think kelvin is better than bart or otherwise. Interesting to see someone pick up on the fact that Nigel Pearson spotted the problem and replaced him with Wright and kept wright in the side
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st_bangkok added 07:04 - Feb 7 It would be a very brave move by NA to drop KD, but it could make him a hero. Then again if Bart costs us dearly he will get crucified. Tough call for the gaffer to be fair.
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eusebio added 09:18 - Feb 7 "Because someone has played professional football does not mean they are best qualified to give an opinion on it, as the old saying goes, you dont need to have been a horse to be a jockey, Jason Puncheon was also in that pfa team, has he even had one performance for saints this season that would merit him being picked if he was still here ? " Does that include a long standing supporter who thinks they know how best to run the club !!! BTW Disappointing result but a very enjoyable game......shame there wasn't a few more fans there.

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SaintNick added 16:32 - Feb 7 I have never ever said that i know best how to run the club, I merely have an opinion on how it should be run, which is a lot different from what you are saying
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