Saints denied 2 penalties + Lukaku scores from an offside position = impossible to get anything at that miserable home referee stadium.

Well played Saints. Very encouraging performance. Very satisfied with JWP finallly reaching 5 league goals in a season. He is soon - finally - the finished article.

14

Swans made hard work in this match against a very poor Bolton, perhaps it would have been very different if pen had been scored. Bolton just defending deep made it difficult to create chances. Luckily after Bolton had 2 sent off just a matter of time before we scored scrappy first goal. Celina added some class with second goal.

0

Darn it! Cracking game to watch though.

We hung in there at the start, came good, came back and just couldn't hang on. If we keep playing like that tho we'll beat the drop.

Wonder if Ryu Bertrand is still feeling his Street Fighter 2 tackle on Lukaku.lol.

6

Dreadful - for most of the first half we had them in our pocket, without to be honest much creative flair up front. Gilmartin had already been giving glimpses of the shockers to follow, poor kicking, constantly playing out to a defender who was already under pressure, and having to aimlessly lump to no one the inevitable pass back. However, in the 39th minute he surpassed himself with a dreadfully scuffed goal kick straight to a Swindon player in our own half, and several pinpoint passes later Swindon had an ill-deserved 1-0 lead. Two minutes later and a sweeping cross straight on to the head of a Swindon player, who looked miles offside, headed back past Gilmartin into the far corner, and the game looked lost.

It didn't get much better 2nd half sadly. We huffed and puffed and did try and get back into the game, but by then Swindon were quite happy to sit deep and weather anything we tried. Gilmartin wasn't responsible for Mandron running down a blind alley and losing possession on the edge of our box, but he was responsible for the weak hands to only palm the incoming shot up and over his shoulder and into the corner of the goal. It was good to see Norris come on, and he did at least have a few shots on goal, something everyone else seemed remarkably reluctant to try.

...and the referee was absolutely shocking.

0

p.s.
Lukaku´s winning goal; What happened and how could it have been avoided?
He got the ball just inside the box, from a low, short, unblocked pass, with his back against center of goal. Yoshida was the closest marker but couldn´t find time to put in a tackle, and Lukaku turned around with the ball in his possession and put it inside the corner with a low shot, which Gunn - fully streched - couldn´t reach.
Bad defending? Bad goalkeeping? Just a matter of classy finishing?

I guess it was a combination of:

- classy striker ability,
- insufficient defending from Yoshida, AND
- lack of protection from midfield (Højbjerg should have tried harder to block the pass to Lukaku).

It´s all about awareness, timing and great fitness, and we can only learn from it and move on.
Under Hasenhüttl we will be better prepared in all departments next season.
COYS.
Have a nice sunday.

0

It is a shame that the late winner will have many talking of 'typical' Saints but I think we were unlucky not to get at least a point. Gunn has won his place as first choice and JWP has improved. This wasn't a 3-2 defeat where rubbish defending handed the opposition all the goals (at Arsenal last year and Fulham this) so I am going to take the positives - even though they don't show up in the league table of course. Cardiff seem to be imploding nicely as well...

The only negative for me was the fact that forwards are not scoring. It is great that others are 'chipping in' but it would be nice for those paid to score goals to actually do so on a more regular basis

6

It is always difficult to lose when playing that lot and playing so well. We do need points but at least our goal difference continues to look better than Burnley and Cardiff. We are a much better side than this time last year so I hope we can get the results to survive and put pressure on the teams around us. Spurs next...

4

Incredible performance, proud to be a saint. Just wish the outcome wasn't so predictable. Still in the toilet if not in the bowl. It's the hope. Course.

1

Incredible performance, proud to be a saint. Just wish the outcome wasn't so predictable. Still in the toilet if not in the bowl. It's the hope. Course.

0

Could Gunn have stopped the Pereira shot? It appears that although he dived towards the ball he did not try to reach it with outstretched arms. I don't want to criticise him because he saved so many other shots but it's been bugging me since watching replays.

1