Having heard lots of reports about how difficult it was to park round by Southampton I considered using their park and ride option but as I was so early I decided to investigate what it was like around the ground (it was only about 1pm when I got there).
The impossible to park reports proved to be wrong and I found some street parking only about a mile away from the ground. I liked the slightly shabby dock areas of Southampton. Those that were undeveloped had an appearance of being from a completely different time. However as with all dock areas it's under going a lot of changes one of which, obviously is the St.Marys Stadium.
It is a nice ground, but at the same time it has to be said it is fairly identikit to Leicester's. The trouble with these new grounds is they are turning football stadiums into equivalent of McDonalds. None of them are quite identical but they all look and feel the same. This said, the facilities were excellent and it was even easy to go to the loo and get some food at half time. Those serving the food could certainly teach the three gormless idiots who serve at the far end of the Upper Rous a few tricks.
Southampton have taken the Richard Short to the next level by having a live TV style presentation when the match isn't on. They had a slightly irritating bloke presentation but he interacted with the crowd well and to be fair his presentation was flawless. I don't think he'll be confined to the St.Marys for too long.
It was the first ground I've been to for years which still has traditional pre-match entertainment. The caribbean drummers could have come straight from early 80's Vicarage Road. I was half expecting them to be followed up by fighting dinosaurs. Instead we had Hampshire's version of Katherine Jenkins (good voice, not as a good looking) singing Auld Lang Sine.
Aidy had chosen to ditch Ellington again and went with the traditional pairing of Darius and Marlon up front. Shittu was preferred to Jackson at the back thank goodness. Otherwise the team was the same as the QPR disaster.
Both sides huffed and puffed during most of the first half. We looked better than them but I still felt that if we'd conceded that probably would've been that and we would fall apart. However Southampton looked the same and so it proved with Damian knocking in the vital goal just before the break. I paid homage at half time to BSaD and had chose a twix as my lucky half time chocolate. This worked well as Marlon powered in a great free kick after 10 minutes of the second half and Darius added a third to ensure that we could all enjoy the chants of cheerio as the St.Marys rapidly emptied from the hour mark onwards.
So another away day three points but we still look like a fragile side that makes or breaks a game on whoever scores first. In the Adam Johnson era we were fine because his skill and crossing ensured this was usually us but without him we are just one of many Championship huffers whose confidence is so fragile that the first goal is vital to our success or failure. Luckily even West Brom suffer occasionally from this so we are now joint top. However does anyone really want us to go up? Yes the money will be nice for the club, but it will be a season of depression for the fans.
