Saints got a footballing lesson from the Dutch giants (Copyright cliched football reporting)
Make no doubt about it the scoreline flattered Saints, it could easily have been eight, however that doesnt mean to say that Saints didnt compete and it doesnt mean to say that there werent plenty of plus points from the day.
Of course Ajax arent in their best period, they failed to qualify for the Champions League for the coming season, and in Dutch terms that the equivalent of Man Utd only making the UEFA Cup or whatever its called for the coming season.
However in the first half Saints matched them for long periods and scored a peach of a well worked goal, in truth although they had had a few scares, the home side were unlucky to go in only level at the break, with Ajax reliant of a dodgy penalty to level.
The problem with the second half was always going to be substitutions, whereas Ajax had a big experienced squad to make changes from, Saints had clearly set out their stall by putting out the strongest starting eleven possible, and making changes was always going to weaken the team.
In the second half Ajax put on a show of passing that was tremedous to watch, although it has to be said Saints at no time gave up the ghost and capitulated, if they had the score would have been far far worse, but instead they dug in and helped by some great goalkeeping from Kelvin Davis even went into the final ten minutes with a chance of snatching an unlikely draw.
That bubble was burst however as Ajax scored two late goalsand in the end Saints were glad to see the final whistle blown exactly on 90 minutes despite several injuries and countless substitutions.
There are several points to take from this game though, the first is we will not play a team, a quarter of the strength of Ajax in League 1, and from this point of view there are absolutely no conclusions to be drawn from the scoreline.
Secondly it highlighted a few areas that we need strengthening in and in this aspect was a great chance for Alan Pardew to see his new team exposed to a far better class of opposition that they would normally face in a friendly, it will have told him a lot more than a game against someone, with due respect like Cheltenham or Eastleigh.