Southampton v Scunthorpe United

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Football League Championship

Southampton :
Davis, Vignal, Davies, Thomas, Wright, Surman, Idiakez (Viafara 52), Euell, Hammill, Wright-Phillips (McGoldrick 79), Rasiak (John 65)
Subs not used:
Bialkowski, Skacel

Scunthorpe United :
Murphy, Byrne (Seck 89), Martis, Crosby, Williams, Hayes, Hurst (Forte 74), Cork, Sparrow (Ameobi 89), Paterson, Morris
Subs not used:
Lillis, Baraclough

SULSESC REPORT

by Vic Duke at Saint Mary's Stadium

I GOT to do this match report as apparently it was a SULSESC first in that I flew down to the match at Southampton.

The feat should be qualified as the first to fly within England to a match, as Bob Dook technically flies from Singapore to every match he attends. So a 30-minute hop from Manchester to Southampton, followed by a 35-minute bus ride from the airport into town.

A large gathering of SULSESCI appeared at the pub of choice, the Bevois Castle. Somebody counted 41, but whatever happened to Fat Keith? Almost all drank the excellent Ironside bitter in the conviction that this would bring victory today. We managed to empty the barrel but alas no reward later.

Almost everyone was intending to partake of the pub’s all-day breakfast, advertised on the website. Unfortunately the chef’s tiff with the manager at 11 am meant no food. I filled the stomach gap with a visit to the nearby excellent Polish restaurant, only to regret giving them my custom later.

On to the match and a frantic first-half. The Iron could have scored twice in the first two minutes, and after 10 minutes the scoreline could have been 2-4. Once again some good passing movements from United, but no finish (Billy Sharp, we need you).

We all know what happens next, after 25 minutes Southampton took the lead against the run of play with a goal from Rasiak – a bloody Pole!

The goal resulted from a left wing cross, the area from which Southampton had looked most threatening.

The Iron continued to dominate in the second-half but no end product.

All the newspapers gave man of the match to Southampton’s goalie Kelvin Davis. He made three outstanding saves from Cork, Hayes and Morris.

I was reminded of the Ipswich game in December – a good performance away but nothing to show for it. After the match, George Burley (Southampton’s manager) gave United the kiss of death by saying that we had deserved to win and were too good to go down. That’s that then.

I stayed overnight in Southampton at the Star Hotel. I was not alone, being joined for an evening session in the centre by Jon, Andy K and Andy’s ex-brother-in-law Mike. As a Southampton lad, Mike took us on a tour of ancient hostelries: the Red Lion, frequented by Henry II and possessing the highest pub ceiling I’ve ever seen, and the Duke of Wellington, refurbished but on the site of the Olde Beere House circa 1400. On the Sunday a 30 minute jaunt back to Leeds. A great weekend apart from the result.