Southampton were sporting their new grey and yellow away kit and had brought their new manager Alan Pardew up the A36 with them. He would not have been happy to see the way that his team started as Salisbury made the best of the opening exchanges. Flood had a good run through the centre of the defence and his shot from the edge of the area was deflected for a corner. A couple of minutes later Robbie Matthews was put through and curled a great shot round the keeper but over the bar.
Salisbury were playing with a lot of confidence and took the lead after 15 minutes. A freekick was won on the edge of the box and was floated in for Robbie Matthews to strike home. Southampton had their first effort from the kickoff when Pulis put a shot over the bar. Southampton then won a corner and from that Stern John’s shot was well saved by Bittner, who got down quickly at his near post. The play was now end to end as Chris Flood was played in and his shot was pushed over the bar by Poke in the Southampton goal.
Flood took the corner long and high into the penalty area and found Matthews again. This time he headed the ball superbly past the keeper to give Salisbury a 2.0 lead after 19 minutes. Southampton were being outplayed and it was no surprise when Matt Tubbs gave the Whites a 3.0 lead on 27 minutes. He was played in by a great throughball, ran through the right side of the defence unchallenged and drifted a shot to the keeper’s left and in.
A brief chorus of “Going down!” summed it up – the non-league team were outplaying their illustrious neighbours. Tubbs almost made it 4.0 with a shot that was cleared off the line by a defender. Stern John had a good chance after 40 minutes to pull a goal back when the ball was crossed into the box but his chip from close range cleared Bittner and ended up over the In-Excess stand.
After sending a round of texts to the usual suspects to fill them in on the surprise half time score line, I waited to see if the half time team talk would improve the visitor’s performance. The referee certainly seemed to be sorry for them as he awarded a soft penalty for a push on Stern John in the box in the 54th minute. Paul Wotton took the kick and blasted it just off centre past substitute keeper David Bevan.
Salisbury came close to extending their lead on 60 minutes with a header that hit the post and was cleared from the line. Southampton were starting to use their pace and the width of the pitch to stretch the defence and pulled another goal back on 63 minutes when Patterson strode down the right wing, cut into the penalty area and fired a shot across Bevan and in. Salisbury had a couple of half shouts for penalties but neither was given.
They didn’t stop pressing for a fourth goal and it arrived in the 72nd minute. Substitute Marsh-Browne took the ball down the left side and played a superb cross to the back post where Matthews rose up above his marker and forced the ball past Forecast with a strong header for his hat-trick. The celebrations from the home fans didn’t last long as a minute later Southampton scored another goal at the far end. A cross came in from Thomson and as Bevan went to save it, the ball span off him and across the goal to Mills who was unmarked and had a simple job to tap the ball in.
Two minutes later and the game was tied at 4.4. A cross came in from the left and should have been cleared by the Salisbury defence. The defender slipped and missed the ball, allowing Stern John to receive it and place an accurate low shot past Bevan.
The spectators around me were convinced that there would be a winner and they were right. As the game drew to a conclusion, Robbie Sinclair was showing his stamina with some good runs. In the 85th minute the ball was cut back to him at the edge of the area and he took a shot that went between the keepers dive and near post to put Salisbury back in the lead at 5.4.
An exciting match with a scoreline to match Normally it takes me until mid September to see 21 goals but this season my goal average has reached 7 after 3 games!
No comments:
Post a Comment