ll the emotions of a pssionate derby game in the space of a minute as Saints looked to have snatched victory only to cruelly throw it all away.

I am going to keep this verdict short and sweet, if only because i dont want this sounding like a big told you so rant, all season I have been pointing out various things about the way Saints play and the frailties of certain players and many of these facts came home to roost on Saturday against Portsmouth, indeed if they hadnt already done so the previous week at Blackpool.

Starting in the back four, the two centre halfs are always making mistakes, at least one of them sometimes both will commit a howling error in each game, sometimes it goes unpunished, sometimes it doesnt, they are fine against teams that dont apply too much pressure, but when the chips are down they are just not good enough and do not compliment each other, hear howls of derision about clean sheets etc, well we kept a clean sheet at Leeds, but that wasnt the greatest defensive display I have ever seen, one of the luckiest definately, but best ? not a chance, on Saturday our failure to cleanly win the ball and or distribute it meant that Pompey's five man midfield was often able to run at us after picking up the knock downs, look at the second goal for Pompey a poor header with Norris left unmarked on the edge of the box.

Many will say Guly had a bad game, but the fact is Steve De Ridder came on and did absolutely nothing of note, in fact after guly went off Pompey with an extra man in midfield dominated the game for a period, sadly De Ridder is positionally poor and this gave Pompey plenty of room, yes Guly wasnt playing well, but he was in an outnumbered midfield and he did better than his replacement.

Billy Sharp, his tow goals show that he was held on the bench for far too long, you sign a striker for end product and that means goals and assists, Sharp is more a poacher than Lambert and certainly from that point of view he will score far more than he will make, but sadly sometimes supporters only see pace as an asset, hence Tadanari Lee was heralded because of his hard rumning game, which as good as it was, didnt produce much when the chips were down, whilst Sharp was almost ridiculed on this very site about his lack of pace and weight, but six starts plus four as sub and five goals is a great return for a striker, in fact better than Rickie Lambert's if you take out the penalties.

Finally Im afraid i have to bring up Dan Harding, very harsh in that he spent only about two minutes on the pitch and in truth Nigel Adkins didnt have much choice but to bring him on, needing to run the clock down and only having either Martin or Barnard as an option other than Harding, but Harding is a left back and it showed, Norris was completely unmarked for the equaliser, Harding was three yards away marking space, how we could have done with Chaplow or Butterfield at that moment, players who whatever their faults know how to take up positions and who to mark.

This felt like a defeat, worse that that it felt like a death blow to our promotion hopes, it wasnt just the late goal, it was the manner in which we conceded it, on the back foot to a side of loanees and thrown together, they ran us ragged in injury time, just when all we needed to do was remain cool calm and collected, but we were a rag tag.

A look a the league table is a little more reassuring, lets hope we arent going to throw away another good lead at the top of the League as we did earlier this season.

Photo: Action Images

wolf660 added 17:40 - Apr 8 Look at the table and over the season so far Saints have the third best defensive record at home and something like the 5th best away from home. Unfortunately when you watch you own team week in week out you are always going to remember defensive mistakes because they pretty much always leed to goals - and we hate seeing goals go in our own net. We love seeing the goals we score but look closer. . . There are many more defensive mistakes happening the other end from the opposition! There isn't a defence in this league that doesn't make mistakes but most importantly ours are less frequent than most other teams in this division. If you want more consistent centre backs than the ones we got you'll find them all playing in the Premier league mate where this argument will have more weight to it. Let's hope, and it's still looking good, we will be in a position where we will be needing them next season.

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BlackRod added 18:08 - Apr 8 A return to negativity. The other player you were constantly critical of was Kelvin Davis. I reckon he has played a blinder week after week and has a lot to do with our current position in the league. It's still all to play for and we are in pole position. Every chance West Ham will drop points to Birmingham. Lets demolish the Palace first then the rest will have to catch up again.

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sidsaint added 18:09 - Apr 8 This game was always going to be a derby one off game where form was irrelevant. I prefer to see it as 2 points lost due to 2 superb strikes and some great goalkeeping from the pompey keeper. I now feel that this will go to the wire. We have games against Palace and Middlesbrough who are not in great form, the 6 pointer against Reading, a game against Peterborough who may have nothing to play for and what could be a difficult game against Coventry who may be fighting against relegation. Reading have 2 easy home games but Saints, Brighton and Birmingham away. West Ham also have Birmingham and Brighton to play and Bristol City away who will need every point. I think its going to go all the way in which case our 4 points ahead of West Ham may be crucial. It's going to be a hell of a 4 weeks.

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SaintNick added 18:19 - Apr 8 Blackrod, its not negative its fact, we cheaply gave away two goals to a team in the bottom three that has been beaten soundly week in week out and usually barely scores a goal. I was critical of kelvin when he deserved criticism, when he doesnt i have praised him I want saints to get promotion, and yes its easy to see your own teams failings above others, yes the others are making mistakes at the other end, but thats why they arent top and we are, the old problems still reamin though, we are tight for long periods but then cant defend when we really need too

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NigD added 18:22 - Apr 8 Totally agree with Wolf660 above. To add, it was a great game yesterday. As most Derbys tend to be it was Lacking in quality for much of the time, but real passion was shown by everybody (bar one). Pompey should have been beaten, but when you hit the ball as well as they did twice yesterday, anything is unfortunately possible. Re: writers love affair with Guly?? Thw man did not show up, lacked ANY passion for the game and quite FRANKLY was a discrace to the shirt. The only surprise was the time it took NA to haul the waster off. The cheers went up for his substitution? Period. At the end of the day this is only a bloody game of football and some more than others need simply to enjoy the turn around in our fortunes, rather than write as if we are about to be relegated. How many of us really thought that our top two position would remain all season as it has? I for one was expecting no more than a possible play off challenge. We should celebrate was has happened at our club and stop talking as if we are struggling and about to be pompeyed to Div.1. It is all to play for and very much still in our hands and most of all, whatever happens, enjoy it.

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hortonsaint added 18:42 - Apr 8 Nick whilst on the one hand I generally agree with a lot of your observations I feel that as someone above has commented it's all relative to our position. We are in the second tier and so far this 'error prone' side has been good enough to get into a position where promotion is a serious possibility. Yes errors are made but so are they made by other teams and so far it's been good enough in spite of the errors. Next season if we go up make no mistake that the back four will not be good enough but for now we need to get behind the team for every game, the centre backs won't change so what's the point in the 'I told you so' attitude now. If we fail to go up fair enough but it's pointless to analyse at this stage and to say that it felt like a death blow to our promotion hopes is nothing short of hysterical! Let's be honest the whole squad has far exceeded what we'd hoped for and with five games to go let's back then reflect on what went wrong if it does.

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Jesus_02 added 18:42 - Apr 8 What an atmosphere. Saints did not deserve to loose. Rocha did not deserve to finish the match As much as everyone seems to hate Dan Harding I dont think he deserves to be blamed for a fantastic strike by Norris
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bstokesaint added 18:42 - Apr 8 No time to berate the 2 points dropped. Can't help but feel this was a great derby and we were undone by two fantastic strikes from an otherwise poor Pompey side. There were great performances from Lallana (except the stupid dive), Cork and Richardson. Sharp also proved his worth and why he's in the side. I'm not normally a Guly basher, but yesterday he seemed to miss the scale of the occasion and lacked any fight. All the players need to stand up and be counted for now. The Pompey game's gone. We can't afford it to dwell on it. If we're going to get up now we have to get behind the team and absolutely have to win tomorrow to put pressure on West Ham and Reading. We can sort out any weaknesses in the summer. Together as one. COYR.

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schatfield added 18:54 - Apr 8 You have overlooked some key points here Nick - this was a local derby and as bstokesaint points out, we were only undone by 2 amazing strikes, otherwise we would have won by a mile. So no need for the gloom review, we are doing okay. ps. Please learn to use full stops in your reviews, I feel like I have to hold my breath when reading these articles!
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OldRed added 19:12 - Apr 8 An overreaction Nick. It was never going to be a normal Saturday afternoon game. You've been far too critical all season long to a team who have remained in the top two and most of the time in top spot through nothing but hard work and commitment. It's easy to see the bad points and the weak spots and it seems to me that you don't even enjoy watching them every week. Stop blaming individual players because at "the end of the day" it's the managers choice of selection and he himself is on the brink of back to back promotions so FFS please just lighten up.

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Rednose added 19:23 - Apr 8 Well done, but what's your point? Nigel's been obviously doing something different, to what you've been saying and we're top of the league with gaining promotion in his hands. Positivity is whats needed now.
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splurty added 20:10 - Apr 8 ALL derbies are fast and frenetic and form is irrelevent ,fair play to Pompey they worked very hard especially in the second half when they seamed half a yard quicker than us , overall though we created by far the most chances , you can't odds 2 strikes like that ,and there keeper made a couple of worldy saves. I have a feeling that this could be a crucial point towards the premership . Let's all stay positive like our nigel and it WILL happen . COYR

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bstokesaint added 20:22 - Apr 8 On another point Nick I don't like doing this, but Fox who you've been championing all season was woeful yesterday. For me Richardson shows the quality of balls that you'd expect a full back to deliver.
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splurty added 20:38 - Apr 8 NOW IS THE TIME TO BE TOGETHER AS ONE ,AS FANS WE CAN HELP PULL US OVER THE LINE IF WE ARE UNITED !!!!!
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ExiledSupporter added 20:40 - Apr 8 My take on this is that we have been on quite an impressive run over the last dozen or so games in terms of results but not all that well in terms of performance...and now we are beginning to look a bit fragile or error prone, both against Pompey (Nick's right the clearances and marking of Norris were poor) and against Blackpool where we were very unconvincing. The problem is that both W Ham and Reading look to be running into form and we seem to be falling away. I think we may need all 15pts remaining to actually win the Championship and 11pts to be sure of automatic promotion; I'm not convinced that at the moment we are sufficiently in the groove to achieve either of these

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rjh added 21:08 - Apr 8 I was there yesterday and can't disagree with anything in the main article. Guly and De Ridder were total passengers who did absolutely nothing all game. At times it was like playing with ten men when they were on.
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SaintNick added 21:16 - Apr 8 Yes it was a derby, however Pompey had no trouble despatching us 4-1 at Fratton in 2005, so i dont buy that as an excuse. I am absolutely gutted at yesterdays result hence i might be over the top, but the facts still remain we didnt defend when we had to
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OldRed added 21:17 - Apr 8 ExiledSupporter : don't be too sure about West Ham. Reading have been in form for a long time and I expect them to win the league unless we beat them on Friday and it will be a close run thing. West Ham had a good result against a very poor Barnsley but that doesn't mean they are running into form given their previous results. It took Reading up until the 84th minute to break down a 10 man Leeds side and they also had a bad result away at Peterborough a few weeks ago so don't be surprised to see them dropping points. Saints have still yet to be knocked off top spot so don't give up on them yet!

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bstokesaint added 21:33 - Apr 8 West Ham are not on form. Their "form" is patchy at best, especially at home. If we could win tomorrow it would help give us a lift for Friday.
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KWSaintsIII added 21:45 - Apr 8 How many balls were played to the right wing after De Ridder came on? 3/4 max! It is difficult to do much if your team keep going left. I have tried to believe that Guly will deliver but he continues to disappoint/won't jump/runs into traffic Give Pompey credit. It was their Wembley and they performed. Criticism of Harding is absurd. Personally I would have sent Martin in to close out the middle but that is easy with the benefit of hindsight 24 hours after the game. Making those calls at the time is something else. 41 games in and loving following Saints despite all our faults. My best ever season in 45 years (apart from one day in May 1976)

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indiansaint added 22:31 - Apr 8 First time of posting but here goes! Nick I've read you post for a long time as one of the ones worth watching. But now I have to say what's the problem? Seems to me nothing is ever right from your comments, the manager always gets it wrong, the players lack that passion and we are headed for the dark moors of Mordor! reality is, albeit from a long way from Home, we have managed one of the great turnarounds of all foot balling time. Please can't we just hold on to our thumbs and work the statistics, we have a real chance of going up and also taking a little bit of Kudos from being number 1. where's the spirit, where's the belief, and by the way our position comes from the Manager and his player selections (imo not far short of the great red haired Scot). But then again I've been following the team immaculate since 72, so know how important it is to back the Saints no matter what. sorry to say but the doom and gloom journalism is out of place right now. Come on you Reds!

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thingummy added 23:41 - Apr 8 Great game, amazing atmosphere. When our 2nd goal went in it was one of those moments we all dream about as fans. That Norris strike really hurt ... a lot I think your comments on the centre backs is harsh. I would argue that when we have billy up front + guly or steeeve up front, we get over-run in midfield when the opposition presses us. This also puts Frazer under pressure. All makes life hard for CBs All says to me that we need to start with chappers on the right if going to play 2 up front, esp away from home or in big games. Or, have to play AL in the hole behind Ricky so he can drop back to make it 5 in midfield when we are under pressure

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stmichael added 00:03 - Apr 9 We have to bring back Puncheon. Guly and de ridder are not good enough and are an embarrasment to a team in our position. Oh to have kept OXO!! And nick your mate Fox is fast becoming a big time Charlie. Woeful yesterday and at Blackpool but very good at fist pumping the crowd which fools many but certainly not me. Harding for me everytime. At the moment we have NO pace and cannot get in behind teams. For this reason we are missing Lee badly. To be honest I think we will finish 3rd.

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steadyeddie added 00:06 - Apr 9 Draw a line under this game NOW. We are top, and have a crucial game at Palace in 15 hours. There is a train to catch, beer to drink, and a game of football to watch. During which I will get behind every single player in a Red and white Shirt. Three Points Please lads.
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hortonsaint added 00:15 - Apr 9 Nick I was gutted too and it has ruined my weekend but thankfully we have another game coming up and need to move on. You do seem to set your expectations of the players to standards of perfection, let's be honest we all know this squad has its flaws but forget it now - let's just see what the next 5 games brings and then if we fail to go up we can then lament what went wrong. I disagree regarding the 2005 derby comparison, we were under huge pressure in that game and the stakes were so high. Pompey came into yesterday's with nothing to lose as not even their fans expected to get anything and to be honest they thrived in the atmosphere and rose to the occasion without the pressure of any expectation.

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