The Saints supporters at Carlisle deserved a big thank you.

It was a nice touch for Alan Pardew to instruct his players to go and throw their shirts to the travelling Saints fans at Carlisle as a thank you for their support.

Saints took just under a thousand fans to Brunton Park for their longest away trip of the season, although many would say the midweek November game at Hartlepool will be the one that sorts the men from the boys.

Although some Saints supporters travelled up and made a weekend of it, the bulk made their way up and back on the day, by train, by coach, by mini bus and by car, most setting off  whilst it was still dark at around 6pm.

But this didnt dampen the fervour of the travelling fans, throughout the first half they kept up a constant barrage of noise, silencing the home fans in the process.

After the break, although the home fans woke up and made a bit of a racket, especially after they scored, Saints supporters kept going right to the final whistle, being rewarded by that late late equaliser and cue pandemonium in the away section.

Those that say supporters cant influence a result and spur the team on are obviously watching the wrong sport, football thrives on the passion of its supporters and although Saints fans have at time been reserved in comparison with some of the Northern teams that certainly wasnt the case on Saturday.

A big round of applause should be the order of the day for those travelling fans, who definately did their duty at Brunton Park, with most not getting home much before midnight, however spare a thought for Carlisle supporters, for us this was a one off long haul trip, for them its virtually 3/4 of their away games, trips to Brighton, Bristol, Exeter, Gillingham, Millwall, Orient, Wycombe, Swindon, Southend, Colchester, Brentford, Charlton, Norwich & Yeovil all around the same distance or in some cases farther still than our trip on Saturday, with the geographical make up of the league, we have it easy, a local match for the Cumbrian club would be the 97 miles to Hartlepool or the 124 miles to Oldham & Tranmere.  

Photo: Action Images

Manchester City Polls