Intro & Team News

IBO Reporter - channonite

|Armstrong was out injured, with a bout of concussion after a clash of heads last week against West Ham. Valery returned at right back for his first game after recovering from a viral infection (Not Coronavirus/Covid-19!!), so the team had a more familiar look at the back, with McCarthy in goal, Stephens and Bednarek in the centre of defence. Valery and Bertrand were the wing-backs, with Ward-Prowse and Højbjerg in midfield. Djenepo in his first game since the death of his mother the week before last and Boufal were the wide players with Ings and Long reunited up at the front.

What followed can at best be described as character forming, when Moussa Djenepo was dismissed in the 28th minute after a somewhat rash challenge. His initial yellow card was increased to a stright red after a lengthy VAR review, including Graham Scott, the referee consulting a pitchside tv monitor. Saints were then well and truly all at sea until the break, but in that time an outstanding performance from McCarthy kept them in the game. This included a stunning triple save and a penalty save, after Boufal was adjudged to have handled in the area.

A much better balanced Saints team appeared after the break, with Danny Ings moving to the left, into the hole left by Djenepo, with Long the lone striker. There were even opportunities for the home side to take the win, but they were ulimately undone in the 79th minute, when a mistake by the unfortunate Valery let in Saint-Maximin to place the ball into the far corner of the net, beyond the reach of McCarthy.

Frustrating hardly covers it, but there were positive points to hang on to; McCarthy was superb in the goal, reminding me of Davis holding off Leeds at Ellend Road several years ago; Valery, up until his mistake (tiring after so long out?) had played well; the team gave absolutely everything, you couldn't have asked for any more effort from them; the home crowd seemed to reconnect with the team, after a largely indifferent season and lastly we ony dropped to 14th in the table, seven points clear of the bottom three.

Finally, this turned out to be our last game before COVID-19 finally struck the Premier League down and we realised we were in the grip of a full blown pandemic, the likes of which hasn't been seen since the early 20th century, if ever.

Match Report

IBO Reporter : channonite

|The sending off changed the dynamics of this match and, although Newcastle won by a single goal, you just felt that this was yet another match the should have been a win, rather than a loss. Still, that's football for you.

Match Stats

Referee: Graham Scott

Attendance: 30,096