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Saints At Birmingham City The Verdict

A tale from the snowy wastes of St Andrews as Saints took a deserved point off of Birmingham City in a somewhat drab game.

Birmingham started the livelier of the two sides but in difficult conditions Saints dug in as Nigel Adkins fielded an unchanged side from the one that started against Cardiff, surprisingly opting to keep Billy Sharp on the bench whilst omitting Tadanari Lee from even a place on it.

But Saints got to grips with the game and finished the stronger side, but in truth neither side troubled the keeper much, in the second half it was pretty much the the same although Brum forced the only real saves of the game from Kelvin Davis with the Saints keeper having to be agile right after the break and brave later on in blocking a shot at close range.

The good thing though is Saints seemed to be getting some sort of confidence and team spirit back, certainly even after losing Danny Fox to a second yellow card, both for innoccuos challenges, Saints looked to have a resolve about them that hasnt been there in the past two months and you would hope that this is something that they can now build on further.

In summary, Saints didnt play that well, but what they were was well organised and determined, but perhaps more they knew what they had to do and howw to do it.

If there is a God he surely seems to want Saints to get automatic promotion, before even a ball was kicked, Saints could have been knocked down to 3rd, but Cardiff's home dfeat meant that not only did Saints stay second but they even gained a point on the Welsh side, but again it leaves Saints supporters looking at the table and thinking if only we had had just a poor run over the past two months, we would still be top, that fact that it has been appalling and we are still second is somewhat amazing.

In the short term this point is still not great in that it means we have still barely averaged a point a game in well over two months and that isnt good, but it could bbe the point that changes the season and we have come through two tough games this week unbeaten, however it will mean nothing unless we can start winning and start winning fast.

Saints fans who didnt travel should spare a thought for those 1,600 who made the two hour journey up and then faced a nightmare six or seven hour journey home through deep snow and ice roads, luckily for me I picked the right day to accept corporate hospitality.      

 

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