What were you doing on 18th April in past years ? perhaps you were watching Saints, here are a few more reminders to jog your memory.

We start in 1972 and Chelsea where the visitors for an evening game where a point would be good enough to guarantee Saints safety from relegation.

The game was goalless until 18 minutes to go when most of the 25,000 in the Dell erupted when Ron Davies gave Saints the lead to spark a goal frenzy, Baldwin equalised within 5 minutes and then Big Ron restored the lead 2 minutes after that.

But just as the crowd was celebrating what looked a great win up popped Baldwin again with only a couple of minuted left on the clock to secure his side a point, no one cared though, at the final whistle Saints had the point which meant none of the bottom two could catch them.

In 1974/75 we had a rarity at the Dell at least back then, a game played on a Friday evening, I'm not quite sure why this was the case, perhaps someone can enlighten me, but what is known is that Millwall arrived knowing that defeat would send them down to the Third division.

Peter Osgood and Mike Channon gave us a two goal lead at half time and the visitors pulled one back in the second half before Osgood restored the two goal cushion, again the Lions puled a goal back but Saints hung on meaning that Millwall were relegated, the 13,8156 crowd was around 8,000 less than had watched the last home game against Manchester United, they saw Steve Neville make his debut for the club as sub.

1981 saw us up at Filbert Street looking to hang on to 3rd place, a large following travelled up to the East Midlands and took up residence behind the goal in one third of their big covered terrace.

They would see the game come to life after the break with the Foxes leading twice with firstly Graham Baker and then Steve Moran on 78 minutes getting Saints back on level terms, it was an exciting game to watch but we wee losing ground, we were still 3rd with 3 games to go but 5 clubs were within 2 points of us. Leicester would be relegated.

For some reason the gate topped 15,000 for the visit of Oxford, higher than had been the norm , perhaps Oxford brought a few more fans than normal given they where looking over their shoulders at the bottom three, but the three that mattered at the Dell where the three goals Saints scored in the last 20 minutes to win the game, Glenn Cockerill, Gordon Hobson and Danny Wallace doing the damage.

1992 was the last season before the Premier League and the riches that were promised for the teams that would be in it for the following season, Saints were not yet safe when Sheffield Wednesday arrived at the Dell, future Saint David Hurst scored with 21 minutes to go in a game where neither team deserved a goal, Saints were almost safe being 7 points clear of the bottom 3 and now only 3 games to go, Luton, Notts County & West Ham would miss out on the Premier League.

Five years ago we travelled to Stoke City looking to get a Europa League qualifying place, Morgan Schneiderlin gave us a first half lead, but we were hauled back to level terms just after the break and then Charlie Adams scored a late winner in a disappointing result in a game we really should have won Stoke scored with their only two efforts on target.

Photo: Action Images

Southampton Polls