Saints clicked into overdrive to record a resounding victory.
Nigel Adkins finally made the change that had been staring him in the face and brought in Chamberlain for Puncheon and the impact was immediate, the added weapon in the armoury of a player who could not only take on and beat his man but cross a ball with accuracy put the East London side on the back foot from the kick off.
Some will say that Chamberlain's first goal was a little fortunate in that the debutant keeper appeared to palm it into his own net, however the cross come chip was put right into the area where goalkeepers hate and have to deal with and from this early start Saints were able to relax and concentrate on getting the game won rather than chasing the game.
Chamberlains second goal brought the crowd to their feet again and was somewhat similar to his first only hit a little bit harder, its what Saints have been crying out for all season and it sent them in at the break in control, a word of caution was there to see though as the visitors flashed a series of dangerous crosses across our six yard box and indeed had one headed chance that could have easily been taken.
The break came with Saints firmly in control and to be blunt they should have been at least three up with a Lallana header being the worst miss.
In the second half it was all Saints again and when Barnard repeated his trick from Saturday and turned in a cross from close range just before the hour it was only a question of how many, Jose Fonte is starting to show he is a threat at corners and set pieces and he again headed a nice back post goal to make it two home games in a row on the scoresheet.
The only disapointment is that it wasnt more as unsurprisingly Saints went into cruise mode with the front two being taken off shortly after the fourth, but Saints could have easily added to the total and it was only a few smart saves from the Daggers keeper that meant they didnt.
The difference for Saints was in the midfield, Chamberlain and Chaplow added two different dimensions to the play, Chamberlain's was obvious, Chaplow less so, but in my opinion both Hammond and Scheiderlin together are too similar in many respects and a little cumbersome, Chaplow on the other hand is quick and mobile and able to play one twos and make darting runs that dont seem to be in the locker of the other two, that being said both are good players in their own right and Chaplow can compliment either and that competition can only be good.
Likewise Jason Puncheon, he hasnt been in good form this season but he will be back and hopefully the shock of being dropped may kick start his season, our problem has been goals from the midfield, Lallana apart the usual trio havent managed one between them all season, Chamberlain is already well ahead and you feel that if Chaplow stays he will soon add to that tally, on several occasions already only the keeper has stopped him.
So overall a good performance and one in which we once again took large steps forward in confidence and controlling the game, but the Daggers even with the worst away record did still cause us the odd problem at the back and usually it was of our own making Harding and Seabourne combined to get us into trouble by being lax playing the ball along the back and we need to cut that out a little, you felt that both were playing to instructions and would have much preferred to hoof it long but got caught.
I couldnt write a piece without mentioning Kelvin, as the game dragged into the final minutes I thought that he had not put a hand or glove wrong but then he went and spoiled it and spilled an easy cross, luckily with no one right to hand from the Daggers he was able to grab the ball at the second attempt, all joking aside it was one of those occasions when a keeper doesnt gather a ball cleanly and its good he got that little blooper out of his system last night, as in fairness catching the ball when he comes for it isnt usually a problem.