Saints moved a step nearer safety but havent yet quite clinched it after this scrappy game against the Hammers.

Saints perhaps deserved to take all three points for a fourth time in a row, but it wasnt to be as West Ham fought tooth and nail for a valuable point apiece that in truth does little for either side, leaving both still looking over their shoulder with Wigan having three games in hand.

Although of course a month ago we would have been delighted to have been in this position with only five games left, it does still leave us a point or two short of being absolutely certain of beating the drop and that leads to nevrousness both on and off the pitch, so the sooner we hit 40 and get well clear the better.

On the bright side it was five games unbeaten and 11 points taken from those five games and that cant be sniffed at, but Saints fans left the stadium just feeling a little deflated that we didnt make it three points, in fairness Saints were missing their best player of late in Jay Rodriguez and there was a certain directness missing in the way that J Rod gets the ball, runs at players and make things happen, but we still had our chances although we did look a trifle unbalanced.

Saints enjoyed the lions share of the play and of the chances, but just lacked that killer edge, ironically though perhaps the opening goal upset the balance for the rest of the game, Gaston Ramirez had not been enjoying the best of games and looked off the pace, however when his chance came he took it and although he did benefit from the ball falling nicely for him from the defenders tackle, he took it sublimely.

This though probably kept him on the pitch and it was Adam Lallana who went off on 72, I just had the feeling that if Ramirez hadnt scored then it would have been him making way for our star man of late, truth is Ramirez didnt do too much else of note after his goal and it was no surprise when six minutes later he left the fray himself, given the impact J Rod had in terms of sparking the attack to life, I just have the feeling that we would have been better leaving Lallana on and removing Ramirez.

But in the end although we deserved the win, truth is we probably didnt do enough for it and again a slight loss of concentration cost us dearly, West ham did what they do well and thats get free kicks in dangerous positions and we played into their hands on this one.

With only Sunderland making up ground on us over the weekend a point isnt the end of the world, however Wigan do have these games in hand, so until we know the outcome of them we should be cautious and concentrate on getting those points to put us well safe.        

Photo: Action Images

ExiledSupporter added 10:39 - Apr 15 As usual there were a few instances of chaotic defence, when are we going to sort this out?
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LennyJam added 11:17 - Apr 15 we will sort it out when we sign, vidic, Evra, ferdinand and rafael
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ItchenNorth added 11:38 - Apr 15 I thought Ramirez had a really good game apart from a couple of sloppy free kicks late in the second half. Ramirez kept things ticking for both Lallana to create and for Lambert to work the space. I was impressed with our midfield three again. Davis, Cork and Schneiderlin all had to put real shifts in to combat West Hams physical approach. They all shifted the ball well too in starting things moving again for our front line and overlaps. I felt a point was just about right. We have played better but it was always going to be like this Saturday; a hard grind. How the Hammers fans put up with this style of football is beyond me. It was like watching Championship or League One football again ! Thank god we have a manager that wants us to get the ball down and play.

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tiptop added 12:10 - Apr 15 Statistically a result you could see coming. V bad conditions would be a fair enough excuse for all ..including dead ball delivery from Gaston. I trust he will get better. Its a matter of getting his confidence up like J Rod and adapting. It was his delivery though that nearly led to a goal via RL. As you said a sublime finish for his goal too. Lambert's great technique for his header was so nearly a stunning goal. And JRod showed how much he has come on with his impact off the bench. Immediate effect. Didnt move WH around as much as I would have liked us too. Again partly down to conditions.

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simmo400 added 13:04 - Apr 15 Thought we matched them for strength all the game which was important. Pity J ROD didnt start the game as looked the best player bt a mile when he came on. We could have took him off when he tired i thought. Adam lallana much too light weight for this game no impact for me. Thought Punch would have been the beteer bet. Ramirez was ok and took the lucky break goal well and apart from a terrible free kick and a bad cross had a decent game i thought. WH were so boring it has to be said...HOOOF ball dosent work but they put pressure on the ref and it got them the free kick to equalise. Agree with most we could have won but ere wernt quite good enough too.

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SaintStu7 added 16:12 - Apr 15 On any relegation concerns. If we ignore Wigan then we are 4 points clear with 6 teams between us and the relegation zone. I agree that we are not totally safe but although the 4 points is not huge it would take an amazing turn around for all the teams below to trouble us. Thought a draw was a sound result although we deserved all 3 points. Great team effort
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Fordy added 16:54 - Apr 15 A few thoughts: - Jos said it wasn't a foul but it looked a foul every which way on tv. Sliding in there is always going to be risky and much as he claims to have improved, he is still too slow and too much of a liability at this level. - I hope Gaston will come good. A lot of his problem is his decision making. Too often at free kicks he decides to shoot when a cross would be a better option. He's yet to really produce anything from a free kick and this is defintely an area he needs to work on. - Fox played ok but we missed the dynamism of Shaw down the left. - Assuming JRod is fit, it will be interesting to see who he picks out of Gaston, Lallana and Davis against Swansea.

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Whatsforpud added 18:52 - Apr 15 As Rodriguez had been ill during the week, I think that the decision to give him 20 minutes at the end was the right one. Giving his all then was better than starting, then running out of energy before half time. Am I alone in getting a little nervous about Boruc always looking for a short pass, when sometimes he just needs to put his foot through it. One day he is going to come unstuck.

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ExiledSupporter added 19:09 - Apr 15 I don't think we can afford the luxury of playing Ramirez and Lallana in the same team, at least not at the same time. It's no coincidence that we have played so much more convincingly recently while having Davis as the third member of a very hard working midfield who collectively provide a much more resilient screen in front of the defence, more pressing and good support for the forwards. I'm afraid neither Gaston or Adam put in the hard work of Davis and Co, though they clearly have more creative talent. Our defence will look even wobblier without our industrious midfield trio! One of the developments that MP deserves credit for is resolving how to best use JR ie. by letting RL drift deeper to play devastating balls into channels for him to run on to. But like Adkins he hasn't yet resolved how to best employ AL and GR at the same time - not least because they are prone to inconsistent levels of individual performance. I notice that Forren has disappeared from the bench again (unless he had the virus) - what do we make of his continued absence...even Mayuka appeared on the sidelines this weekend.

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moran89thmin added 00:25 - Apr 16 Wigan have two games in hand
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