Since Saints & Newcastle resumed hostilities in the top flight in the mid 1980's this fixture has more often than not been a classic for one reason or another.

After Saints were relegated from the then Division One back in 1974 it would be a decade before we crossed the path of Newcastle again with the Geordies being relegated in the same year we won promotion back to the top flight it meant that we passed them on the way up as they went down.

So it would be 1984 before we would meet again, in the mean time we had been embroiled in controversy with them in 1982 when Kevin Keegan at the height of his powers left Saints and went to St James Park to help them win promotion, in today's terms it would be like Luis Suarez joining Nottingham Forest.

It took Keegan two years to get Newcastle up and he then retired, so there would be no emotional return to the Dell for him, ironically this first meeting back in the top flight between the clubs would be one of the least eventful with only a David Armstrong goal on the stroke of half time dividing the sides and giving Saints the points.

in 1985/86 Newcastle arrived at the Dell on the opening day of the season and this game had an explosive start literally ! For some reason Saints had decided to let off a pyrotechnic display just before kick off to start the season with a bang, it went a little wrong and left part of the pitch badly burned, there was another firecracker to come though as making his debut that day was an 18 year olf Paul Gascoigne, the scoring took place either side of half time, it was though that Gascoigne muttered the Saints scorers name when we took the lead just before, David Puckett taking the honours, at least it sounded like Gascoigne had said Puckett, Peter Beardsley made it honours even.

Just over a year later and the goals flooded in, Saints new striker Colin Clarke hitting a hat trick followed by Mark Dennis scoring with a sublime chip to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 4-1 defeat to send Saints 9th in the League.

The next classic would come on April 1st after a start to the season where at one time we had topped the table, Saints had slipped down the league, when the Geordies arrived we hadn't won in nearly 5 months and 17 games in total, we had dropped into the bottom 3 and were now level on points with Newcastle, this was the classic relegation six pointer which we would come to know so well in the next decade.

As the game entered injury time it was still deadlocked, a result that suited the visitors, then came pandemonium, Rod Wallace was going away from goal when he appeared to be clipped and went down, it was fair to say the penalty was hotly disputed, when the fury had died down and the ball was placed on the spot, there was a debate on who would take it, regular taker Derek Statham was out and clearly a few other contenders were shuffling their feet and staring in the other direction, up stepped Neil Ruddock who buried the spot kick and then did a celebration that would be named in the next edition of the Ugly Inside as "The Ruddock Stomp" and a T shirt was duly issued by us for the next match. Saints found their form again and marched up the league to finish comfortably mid table, Newcastle would go down .

It would be 1993/94 before we met again, Keegan had again worked his magic at Gallowgate and got them up again this time as manager and this time he would be back at the Dell for his first competitive visit since leaving in 1982, when he arrived in October for a televised Sunday game, we were in deep trouble and protests against Ian Branfoot were starting to emerge, only Swindon kept us off the foot of the table on goal difference and in the 11 games so far we had only 5 points.

Matt Le Tissier returned to the side after being dropped for 3 games, Branfoot preferring Paul Moody, for an hour it was tense then with Moody warming up on the touchline Le Tiss controlled the ball ghosted past Venison, lobbed it over Scott and then stroked it home past the keeper to make the Dell erupt.

Ten minutes later it was all square and things were looking bad for Saints as the game headed into injury time, then came another piece of magic as from nowhere Le Tiss controlled the ball on his thigh and with nothing looking on he volleyed home from 20 yards or more to win the game for the second of two goals that Sky still drool over now.

1994/95 seemed to be deja vu, Saints had started the season well, but Newcastle arrived for an evening game with Saints not having won in 12 games and dropping to rock bottom, things were not looking good.

It wasnt looking any better with 4 minutes left and the home side trailing to a Kitson goal, at this point the Geordies were in full control and Saints were lucky to have nil as they say, then it all went mad, Srnicek parried a Watson header and Neil Heaney poked the ball home for what would surely earn us a point, but there was a lot more to come, the crowd suddenly sensed something in the air as football crowds sometimes do, the atmosphere went up through the gears and it was this that contributed to Srnicek dropping a cross under little pressure, the crowd willed it to happen, certainly Gordon Watson was and he prodded home the loose ball to sent the crowd wild, it wasnt over though with Newcastle shellshocked Neil Shipperley darted in to prod home yet another Srnicek fumble. This was one of the classic Dell nights, if you were there then you will know that, if you werent then I am truly sorry for you, I wouldnt have missed it for the world.

1996/97 was another tough season for Saints we hit the bottom 3 on Xmas day and would stay there till the final four games, Newcastle arrived in January in 4th place and looking to win the league, it looked like they might well do when they made it 2-0 on 83 minutes, on 89 minutes another goalkeeping error, this time from Shaka Hislop presented Neil Maddison with a goal, but this looked like a consolation until deep in injury time Le Tissier casually smashed the ball home from 25 yards as was his want in those days to salvage a point and give Saints hope in what would be another tough relegation battle which we would again win.

In 97/98 Saints were above a Newcastle side strangely struggling against relegation, it was 1-1 with 3 minutes left, the Geordies were looking forward to a point in a quiet encounter when again it went pear shaped for them with the final whistle in sight, another penalty another Le Tiss goal gave all three points to Saints.

1998/99 season would be known as the Great Escape, it didnt look like it would back in the February, this time the late goal would be provided by Newcastle but it would be only a consolation and Saints won 2-1.

1999/2000 would be another genuine classic and another televised Sunday game, in incessant rain Alan Shearer gave the visitors a lead on 22 mins that they still held as the hour mark approached, Stuart Ripley wa son a ssub and not much was expected of what was an expensive flop, but this was to be his best game for the club, on 58 minutes he crossed for Hassan Kachloul to score, 8 minutes later he put in Marian Pahars to make it 2-1 and 3 minuted later Saints had truly turned it round as Katchloul netted again when the keeper couldnt hold the ball. Mark Hughes hit a thunderous volley to make it 4-1 on 78 minutes and the Geordies could not believe it, Gary Speed got a consolation but once again Saints had snatched the game from them.

The final day of 2001/02 season saw Newcastle arrive on the final day of the season for their first visit to St Mary's, a Geordie invasion saw thousands of ticketless visitors in the City for the game and a then record crowd in the ground.

With a World Cup looming all eyes were on certain players, Anders Svensson was one of them and he opened the scoring and the lead was doubled on 24 minuted when James Beattie scored, at half time it was all looking good for the second half cameo of the about to retire Matthew Le Tissier against a club that more than most he had tormented over the years.

The second half would change all that though, on 54 minutes Shearer would halve the deficit and then a minute later Keiron Dyer would see his World Cup dream ended in injury and Tahar El Khalej sent off, with a lot of money at stake for league position, even a draw could have seen Saints drop 4 places Gordon Strachan had to reshuffle his team and look to defensive options rather than the injury wracked Le God, Saints held on and as was usual back then we rubbed it in with a last minute goal Paul Telfer doing the honours this time, Saints stormed up the table to finish 11th, Newcastle stayed 4th.

2003/04 was another classic, Saints had a keeper crisis and Alan Blayney had to be thrown in, the game tooed and throwed with Newcastle taking the lead, then Saints and then on 88 minutes Saints looked to have won it when Leandre Griffit scored for what looked like another late winner, but this time it was not to be Darren Amrose scored an injury time equaliser and Saints had Blayney to thank for a late save that would be nominated for save of the season.

2004/05 was not a classic, perhaps ironically or fittingly if you are a member of the toon army, Newcastle won 2-1 for their first win in the league Southampton since 1972, although they did warm up with one in the cup the previous year.

Last season saw us win 2-0 in what was a mini revival back in November, Adam Lallana and Gaston Ramirez scoring in the 2-0 win.

Over the years this fixture has few peers when it comes to regular goals and excitement, it can perhaps only be matched by games against Liverpool and Manchester United in that respect, funnily enough rarely has it has much riding on it for both sides in any given fixture, usually its been one or the other needing the points, but this weekend like 1988/89 its a real head to head with both sides in direct competition, lets hope it lives up to its illustrious predecessors although when the dust is settled i would be happy with an exact repeat of that game 25 years ago.

Photo: Action Images

GeordieSaint added 15:30 - Mar 25 I was at the game at St James' when Alan Ball had just taken over and Le Tiss scored a top free kick with about 10 minutes to go. There was no away end due to the ground being redeveloped and you could hear the players celebrating even with 40 odd thousand in the stadium. The Newcastle fans never forgave Mike Hooper after that and the other two goals from Matt that season and he was soon out of the door.

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