|Sky’s red button transmission with stadium pictures and sound burst into life. The team line-ups were displayed, but there was no commentary. When the players emerged from the tunnel City were disguised as Norwich, but during the formalities and a minute's applause for El Tel the only voice heard was the stadium announcer.

The novelty wore off when City kicked off as the picture quality was shite. The only players I could spot were Kamaldeen and Stu and/or Manning on the camera side of the park. There were no close ups or replays and I was unable to read the shirt numbers. Thankfully the only goalmouth action was a shot from Sully that the keeper saved.

I was about to switch to the Champion’s League when, after 9m of shadowy figures kicking a ball about, a commentary suddenly began. No idea who it was and he was completely unaware no-one had heard anything he’d already said. Piss poor I call it.

Apparently Adam had already been booked as when KWP clattered on of theirs on 16m his yellow was our second of the night. The commentator said it had been a “scrappy” start. He was not joking.

Sykes had City’s first effort but Charley deflected his effort behind for a corner which we cleared. City were keeping the ball well but when we won it back our team played through their press to build an attack of our own. Charley found AA whose effort was blocked by Vyner for a corner. A short corner reached Stu whose cross to Bedders fell for Adam who shot went high.

City were not slow to break up our passing with fouls but no cards were waved in their direction. On 25m Manning got in the way of a Tanner cross which earned City another corner. This one could have been costly as the cross reached Conway but his header went over the bar.

Up the other end a Sully cross sailed harmlessly over Adam. Then Shea won the ball high up and fed Stu. His low drive was fumbled by O’Leary. There was a tap in for anyone following up but the keeper had ample time to recover the ball.

City’s next attack was thwarted by the lino’s flag and then we were back on the attack. KWP went down on the edge of their box but the Ref turned his back and carried on.

Then, just after the half hour, Kamaldeen went down in a heap and stayed down. The medics came on and eventually escorted the limping player off the pitch. It transpires he’d done his hammy and could be out for months. Not good news on the night we learned The Loch Ness Drogba may also be missing for several more weeks. Boo!

It was Che Adams on from the bench which changed our shape. Adam moved out left leaving the right flank to be worked by Charley and KWP. There was no immediate impact on the flow of the game as we continued to boss possession without doing much with it.

Adam won a corner off Tanner which Manning took. The ball dropped to Downes who aimed for the top corner but sent it too high. City were still in this and passed the ball with intent. On 40m Tanner’s cross found Sykes whose header was clawed away by Baz as he fell backwards. Decent save that.

Manning then set up a chance for che but he dragged his shot wide of the post. A quick break by City saw Conway in behind with the ball at his feet. Baz came out tomedet him and won the ball cleanly. That was another good scoring chance. For all our possession City were closer to getting a goal.

In 3 added minutes, Manning got our 3rd yellow for a foul on Conway. We spent the rest of the half defending as City tried to capitalise on their decent spell. They could not and the sides went in at 0-0.

With Leicester, Ipswich and Leeds all winning that was not good enough. We had created chances but never looked like taking any of them. 63% possession had earned an xG of 0.28 FFS! Russ presumably gave them a bollocking in the home dressing room but, before sending them back, must’ve entered the “cheat code” into KWP’s sports bra. The fullback immediately changed the game.

Our first attack was halted when (of all people) Harwood Bellis was flagged offside but our next was on the money. The ball was worked wide to Adam, this time on the right. His route to goal was congested so he laid the ball back to Kyle. Perhaps the City defenders hadn’t seen his goal at Preston but they got a very good reprise of that as he cut inside and curled a left footed shot round their keeper into the far corner. 1-0 Saints.

Some clever bastard once said ”goals change games” but rarely as much as this one did. From a closely fought contest between equals Saints suddenly looked like a promotion chasing team besting a mid-table plodder. We were moving quicker, our passing was more confident and we were playing with heads up and forcing the away team to defend.

We kept the ball better this half and pressed remorselessly without it. City were a shadow of the side that Baz had to keep from leading at the break. However, Russ would be expecting a second and, ideally, a third goal. A single goal is rarely enough in this division.

Our next chance came on the hour. Adam and Shea had worked the ball to Downes who played in Charley but his effort missed. Soon after, Manning’s shot from distance cannoned off Bell. The initial cross was cleared but sent back in for the keeper to claim.

The Robins made their first changes on 64m with Ball and Conway being replaced by Cornick and Weimann. Saints responded with 2 shots on target inside a minute. First KWP set up Adam who then did likewise for Charley and both needed saving by O’Leary.

Kal Naismith was then down needing attention. While he was attended to, both sets of players were given updated instructions from their respective dugouts. The verdict on City’s left back was he needed to come off. Joe Williams came on in his place.

Whether it was fresh legs or not, City suddenly began competing again and, approaching 80m, we still had 10 starters on the pitch. Time for changes Russ. Shea was then penalised for a foul on Sykes close to our box prompting the home fans to ask “Who is the wanker in the blue?” Fortunately nothing serious came from the free kick

Yet City had the next shot on goal too. Knight set up Dickie but he dragged his effort wide. They then withdrew Sykes to send on their Albanian forward Memeti who is an alleged “ball player”. At the other end Tanner blocked KWP’s attempt and the resulting corner ended up near Che who failed to hit the target (again).

On 80m we gave the ball away right in front of our goal and only a great block by THB saved our bacon. Gardner Hickman’s corner was decent but Vyner’s header was just over the bar. There then came activity from the home bench and Stu and Shea came off with Will and Joe A coming on.

With 5 of the 90m the Ref finally booked one of theirs: Vyner for a foul on Alcaraz. Saints were in full game management mode by now and Downes looked to carry the ball upfield and kept being fouled. From one of the free kicks Cornick suddenly broke away and ran all the way to our box. Downes tracked him all the way and, as the forward shaped to shoot, Flynn took the ball from him. That was classy defending.

Joe had another cameo on the right of midfield and late on found Adam who again won a corner off Tanner. Again, a City player carried the ball upfield. This time it was Mehmeti but we got back in numbers and crowded him out. Manning ended up on the deck and was slow to rise. Rather than risk him in the +4m Saints sent on Bree to replace him.

That was that, really. Saints didn’t give City another sniff. Much of the added time was spent by their corner flag as their players tried to retrieve the ball. We won free kicks and a corner, and the Ref found another 2 minutes and some from nowhere, but the game was done, and we got the first home clean sheet of the season.

You can see why City have turned over some decent sides, and they should be comfortably in the top half. On the other hand, we don't play consistently well, although we have gone 10 games unbeaten. With Cardiff arriving on Saturday, expect a different team to face them.

Man Of The Match

Winning when not playing well is a good habit and essential if we have any pretensions of returning to the Prem at the first attempt. There were some good performances among the not-so-good, but four stood out.

Flynn Downes is Premier League quality, and he will be there next season, but probably in claret and blue.

KWP had a stinker on Saturday but returned to his usual self this evening. Great goal, too. With no pundit, there was no Sky MoM, but Kyle was the chosen one in the stadium.

Baz kept us in it before halftime. Mind you, he owes us for some of the errors he made early doors. He is improving at a pleasing rate, and I want to hear Spurs told to do one when we extend his contract.

I’m going to ignore those 3, though. I’m nominating Adam Armstrong, who is involved in everything good we achieve. He has played a crucial part this season in a league where he always scores plenty. But Adam is much more than just a goal-getter. His leadership and work rate have been crucial with our club captain out of commission. All the talk of squad rotation suggests he may be on the bench someday, but his value to our team is immense. His is probably the first name Russ writes down.