It was yet another draw against Brighton at St Mary's and a game of two halves after Ralph Hasenhuttl changed half the side, but there were still some very encouraging signs in the second half and we deserved all three points overall.
Ralph Hasenhuttl had intimated he would ring the changes and ring them he did with 5 of the 10 outfield places seeing a man out and a man in, but the balance of the team was altered and we struggled to get going and at the back we were all at sea.
In truth Brighton weren't much going forward, but we failed to do the basics, too many times we ball watched and presented them with chances, on 17 minutes they took the lead and it was a sucker punch, a long throw that say Vestergaard a yard off Glen Murray who had plenty of space and time to direct his header to Maupay who breezed past Bednarek and placed his shot into the corner leaving McCarthy stranded, it was a soft goal down to a lapse in concentration.
But for all the possession we had we were lacking any sort of co ordination going forward, Michael Obafemi as I have often said is a reactive player, he does not make runs or create space, he has to be given the ball at his feet or have it put in front of him, he was non existent first half and running around aimlessly, but the issue was he just wasn't offering an outlet, he is young though and will learn and improve.
We had our chances in the first half but it was a poor performance.
At half time Ralph made two changes so redress the balance and it worked, Romeu who had already been booked went off and on came Walker Peters, a quick shuffle of KWP to right back and PEH to midfield restored the balance
Up front off went Obafemi and on came Che Adams and we immediately looked a more balanced side, now the Seagulls were hanging on and when Adams scored on 66 minutes you could see only one winner.
The goal was well worked, Che Adams cleverly headed the ball down to Nathan Redmond who in one movement swept the ball through perfectly for Danny Ings and he was never going to miss once put through.
Brighton rarely had a sustained attack in the 2nd half but they did have their moments and again chaos in our defence saw 5 of our players chase the ball whilst one of the only two men in the box for the Seagulls pulled the ball back for the other one completely unmarked on the penalty spot, luckily he blazed wide with our men floudering.
At the other end we were creating chance after chance, but Brighton were defending like trojans and throwing themselves in the way, Che Adams was particularly unlucky on more than one occasion, he did everything right, but luck was not shining on him.
We had 15 efforts in the second half, with Brighton goalkeeper Ryan making one world class save when he turned Jannik Vestergaard's 25-yard strike against the crossbar with the briefest of fingertips.
Even when the visitors had to put one of their central defenders up front for the closing stages having used all their subs, they dug in and made sure they held what they had come for and that was the point that means they are safe barring a miracle turn around of goal difference.
This was not a poor performance in the second half, but it highlighted our lack of depth in certain positions, it would be easy to point the finger at Pierre Emile Hojbjerg and Jannik Vestergaard as they are the current villains of the piece in some fans eyes, but it was more than that, we lacked something in the first half and that was balance, in the second we were as good as any other home game in terms of creating chances.
It was disapointing, we had a great chance to leapfrog Everton and close in on 10th place, now that is highly unlikely, but we do know 3 more points will secure 12th and it is now a battle with Everton for 11th.
Now to Bournemouth were hopefully Ralph will revert to our first choice 11 and we will get the points that will make sure that the league table looks very satisfying at the end of the season.