Saints notch another record

Thursday, 20/10/2011

by Chris Rann, Shoot's Southampton blogger

Nigel Adkins' record-breaking run as Saints manager continued against West Ham at St. Mary’s on Tuesday night. Not only did Jos Hooiveld’s goal extend Saints record to 17 straight home victories but it also saw the attendance record smashed by one person!

Some 32,152 people headed to the ground that has become a fortress in every sense of the word since Adkins took over, and they weren’t disappointed. The home side bullied and outplayed their multi-million pound opponents and were value for their win.

Saints now sit five points clear at the top of the Championship, and many fans are starting to believe. When the chairman Nicola Cortese took control of the club, he spoke of a five year plan to get to the Premier League. Many scoffed at this idea, and the more conservative Saints fans like myself quietly suggested that it was an ambitious but difficult target to achieve. Well here we are, two and a bit seasons later, top of the Championship. Can we do it, and in three years as opposed to five?

What happens with the spare two years? We take them off? We get relegated and promoted again just to stay on track?

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to get carried away, there is a lot of tough Championship football yet to play, but when after years in the doldrums, a man comes along and starts promising improvements, and those improvements happen, it is difficult not to.

The ease with which a side like West Ham were despatched shows the quality of this squad. No Lallana or Cork caused a wave of panic amongst the faithful, but their fears were unfounded. The depth of the midfield means that no matter who plays out of Cork/Hammond/Schneiderlin/Chaplow in the middle, we have a very good pairing at this level, and this is for me, where we are winning games.

Rickie Lambert proving himself capable of stepping up, and shooting his way to the top scorers position and good performances by the back four see Saints as the team to beat in the Championship now.

Catch us if you can.

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