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Saints V Tottenham Hotspur The Verdict

Perhaps the best game of the season at St Mary's if not the best result for Saints, but it leaves the season well poised with fifth still up for grabs.

A cracking game at St Mary's which in truth Saints really deserved to win although it has to be said that Spurs played their part in a match that first swung one way and then the other on several occasions.

Pelle's opening goal owed much to the fact that he never gave up what looked a lost cause and put himself in the position to toe poke home the ball to put Saints in the lead, it looked then like Saints would go on to win the game.

However Spurs came back right on the stroke of half time and it was a controversial moment, it has to be said though that few people in the ground initially picked up Lamela's handball, although it looked like it had just hit his side TV replays showed that the Spurs player had deliberately played the ball with his hand.

The second half was pretty much the same tempo as the first and Saints had a couple of chances to go ahead before they actually did on 65 minutes, Shane Long put in a great cross and Graziano Pelle rose to plant a firm header past Loris

The lead didn't last long though and a brilliant through ball split the home defence and Chadli put the ball across Kelvin Davis and into the far corner for the equaliser.

Saints tried to up the tempo in the final stages ad almost snatched it with the last touch of the game when Pelle's header grazed the crossbar.

But a draw it was to be, a result that suited Spurs better than it suited us, but there is still plenty to play for in the final four games of the season.

The real plus point was the performance of Pelle his two goals were both superb in different ways and he led the line well throughout the game to silence his critics, if he can hit this form in the final games and indeed if he gets the type of service he got for the second goal then we can push on with fifth place up for grabs.

No one should have any complaints about this performance although judging by some comments on the internet it seems many have with Steven Davis becoming the scapegoat after a couple of misses in this game, yes they weren't a pretty sight, but he isn't the first player in a Saints shirt to miss a good chance or misplace a pass, what he did bring to the team though was work rate and as much as Saints dominated in terms of chances, it was the visitors who dominated possession having 64% that perhaps tells you about why Steven Davis should be praised rather than criticised, he along with his fellow midfielders had to put in a tremendous amount of work when Spurs had the ball and it is perhaps telling that despite so much of the ball, Spurs rarely looked like scoring apart from when they did.

Overall though Saints an go into the final games with confidence that they can still compete with the best and that they are now scoring goals again with Pelle looking sharp.

Yes perhaps Saints did deserve more from this game, yes perhaps they should have taken a chance or two that they didn't, but it was a good team performance and we should applaud that and try to praise the reasons why we got a point rather than try and pick out individuals who can be blamed for not getting all three.

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