Ginger Reaction - Aston Villa

Last updated : 22 October 2002 By Christian Kelly

What's the point of droning on about a match for page after page, when the manager sums it all up exactly in a few paragraphs immediately after the final whistle.

Saints boss, Gordon Strachan, was pleased with a number of things from last night's visit to Villa Park. The defence were solid and Niemi, Lundekvam, Fernandes and Beattie all stood out with excellent performances.

However, Saints ave some tough matches ahead and Strachan isn't one to become complacent when things could easily strat to go wrong.

"I was delighted with the points," said Strachan, "even though we didn't use the ball as well as we could have done when we counter-attacked."

"It was the battle of two sides who had made mediocre starts to the season and it makes you feel better up to the next game.

"After the goal and the sending off we had four or five chances and never took the opportunities but it was a good victory and our form of late has been decent."

Saints were solid last night, but as Gordon suggests, they couldn't kill Villa off. Likewise, although several players are playing well, we can still do a lot better and we'll have to if we are to be in the top half of the table at the end of the season.