This was Kelvin Davis final season at St Mary's after 10 years at the club so it is fitting that we look at it the day after his well deserved testimonial.

Kelvin Davis would make only one appearance in his last ever season as a player at Saints, that would be against Champions to be Leicester City at St Mary's back in October.

It was not to be a glorious ending to his Saints career, although he would be OK for much of the game, a poor clearance in injury time lead to the Foxes equaliser and was perhaps a sad way to wave goodbye to him in a Saints shirt in a competitive game for the last time.

For much of the four seasons we have been back in the Premier League, Kelvin has been a bit part player, that is no reflection on his ability but the truth was it was a step up too far for him at his age back in 2012, but he remained a loyal servant as Saints looked to bring on Paulo Gazzaniga to be a Premier class keeper.

This season Kelvin was again in the wings, with Forster injured it was Maarten Stekelenburg that Saints relied upon to take over the reigns, after that Leicester game when Stekelenburg was injured again it was Gazzaniga who was called upon to replace him not Kelvin and it was perhaps then with the youngster putting in a couple of good games that the writing was on the wall for one of Saints longest serving keepers.

So farewell Kelvin Davis as he approaches 40 it's time to move on, but he has played a big part in what has been a roller coaster ride since he joined the club in 2006.

Overall rating - It would be unfair to rate him on one game this season, especially since it was his last.

Photo: Action Images

codge added 20:57 - May 18 Has been a great professional for our club,wish him all the best in the future.
1

perazi added 23:42 - May 18 Quite agree with Codge; KD has been a model professional, liked and respected by all. It looks like he is going to stay at the Club in some off-field role which is great news. I do think he played on too long and at times cost Saints points - but who can forget that night at Leeds and that 1-0 win. Well done Kelvin Davis.
1

schatfield added 09:18 - May 19 sorry, never got the big fuss about KD. Why, cos he stayed with us so long? Is it perhaps more because he wasn't good enough to go anywhere else. Aside from the Leeds game, I can't recall a single other moment where you could say he saved us a point or 3. Notoriously bad at crosses, didnt speak to his defenders and an average shot stopper. I await the negative arrows :)

0

Scummer added 10:06 - May 19 He got player of the season and made the team of the season two years in a row. He had offers when we were relegated and going into administration and he stayed loyal. In the meantime he is recognised as contributing massively to the team cohesion and linking the dressing room to the management, and has therefore contributed in other ways to our year on year improvement. But yes, I'm also more confident in Forster's command of the area on crosses!

0

Blogs 31 bloggers

Rochdale Polls