A vital win in a good day for Saints

This was not a pretty game for Saints supporters to watch, the first half saw a stalemate with neither side looking like scoring let alone Saints, of course in the second half Saints went up a gear and after scoring the opener won at a canter, but it was the manner of the win that was important.

No one could say that Saints were rampant, but the fact was that for the first time in months they looked solid, the result was achieved through sticking to a game plan and not making silly mistakes that cost us goals, OK Wednesday werent up to much, but neither were Walasall and Tranmere and they still took maximum points off of us due to defensive howlers, but against the Owls everyone did their job meaning that the pressure wasnt on Saints to score, they could stick to the script and look for an opener.

When it came on the hour you knew that there would only be one team in it from there on, Barnard again was man of the match for me in the way he ran his socks off not only carving out chances for himself but for others as well, including Lambert's goal.

Like any team there are areas that could be improved upon, but you can only beat what is in front of you and Saints stuck to their task and did their job.

This is a good base to build on to travel to Charlton and I feel a lot more confident in a Saints side being able to perform after this game than I have in a long time, promotion is now ours for the taking, we just have to do what we did yesterday,be methodical, be error free and play to the standards we are capable of.

Photo: Action Images

hortonsaint added 11:37 - Mar 20 Fair summary,a fairly typical performance of what we've been seeing for a while and hopefully we will now peak with the run in because we are certainly not playing to our potential. Let's hope Mk can do us a favour now on Monday. Nick-I know your views on Harding, don't entirely agree but hear what you say. Unlike you I've never rated Dickson as better but last week Seaborne came on at LB and yesterday Dickson wasn't in the squad. Unless he was injured I think there's something we don't know about with Dickson, I found it odd when Pardew said he was finding it hard to settle when he first came and given he was LB of the year in div 1 last season he obviously has something-so why is he being excluded by NA as he was by AP? Can't be coincidence

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schatfield added 12:14 - Mar 20 Great win, and with Bournemouth, and Leyon losing and Hudders' drawing, the other results went our way as well. Will ignore the Brighton result as we won't catch them, and Chalton have dropped like a stone so no longer a threat, although it will be interesting to see how they are treated on Tuesday night by their own fans when we play them.
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channonite added 15:36 - Mar 20 Actually, I enjoyed the game. For the first time in God knows how long we looked solid and organised. At no time did I feel that Wednesday posed any sort of threat. It was just down to waiting until we unlocked their defence. Once we did that, it was game over. Did anyone else notice Kelvin coming out and calling for the ball!!! At one point, in the second half he came and called and Fonte ducked - just in time. We seem to be playing like a proper team at last - and there is still room for improvement.

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suttonsaint added 16:48 - Mar 20 We looked solid,calm and composed all evening aided by a toothless,relegation haunted Wednesday performance. Barney along with Fonte stood out yesterday with AOC and Chaplow both well below par,Lambert is looking a little leaner and keener which is a great prospect for our run in and the rest of the lads went about there jobs in a professional,workmanlike manner. Room for improvement?...always but 3 more points,another clean sheet and looking and playing like a team. Charlton are there for the taking on Tuesday so let's have a good go at them and dish out that hiding we've been promising.

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stmichael added 17:01 - Mar 20 Good solid performance by the keeper and left back and rickie has a phenomenal record. Glad your not manager nick as none would have played yesterday! On a serious note jaidi was a liability again made plenty of errors we just did not get published. On another day we will
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the_rover added 23:04 - Mar 20 I enjoyed the game as well. We could and probably should have scored in the first half but at least we didn't concede a breakaway goal as we have earlier in the season. I go along with Nick's assessment and Barny would have been my man of the match too. From a neutrals perspective my partners father came with me. He's an Ipswich fan and thought we were played some good football. He also said he couldn't understand why they sold Harding!

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Spot51 added 09:06 - Mar 21 Sheffield Wednesday played like a lot of teams in this league. Fit, muscular, close down well, win the ball and move it nicely around at the back. What they, and so many others in this league, do not do is move the ball forward with any degree of confidence. Some of their forward passes were dreadful. We are blessed with better players than most and it is no surprise that the teams at the top of the division all have forwards who know where to run and passers who can find them. Nick is right - if we can carry on defending properly and cut out the errors at the back, we are good enough going forward to get ourselves promoted.

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eusebio added 09:08 - Mar 21 Good solid performance.
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bstokesaint added 12:46 - Mar 21 Looking forward to MK Dons v PB game tonight. For one night only will be totally getting behind the Dons!! Know we only have to concentrate on our own results, but if it takes a favour from someone else to get up to 2nd then I won't be complaining.
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