The Ginger Reaction: Derby

Last updated : 07 April 2002 By Christian Kelly

Gordon Strachan must have been as relieved as everyone else at the club when they reached safety. He singled out Matthew Oakley for some praise after the midfielder showed what a capable attacking player he could be. Strachan said:

"Matthew Oakley finished brilliantly and it was a good move. I'm delighted for him - he's been a big player for us. Marian Pahars has the potential to get a lot better but he's shown what he can achieve when he puts his mind to it."

"That was a definite improvement on recent games. We got more crosses in and more people in the box and the more crosses you get in, the more goals you score.

"I've told the players where I think they can finish and that win helped us in what we are trying to achieve. Our aim is to catch the team in front of us."

Strachan also mentioned Rory Delap, who has impressed since his return to the side. Gordon said: "I know Mick McCarthy is loyal to all his players, but if there's one space in his squad, it's got to go to Rory. You cannot have a better person in your squad - as he can play anywhere.

"Delap got a goal last week (against Fulham) and his mate Matt got one today, which was handy for us.

"Rory gets ahead of Matt more often, but I've also said to Matt that if he sees the space, go for it. His goal came from a good move and was a great finish, so I'm pleased for him.

"Before today, we hadn't felt good about ourselves in our previous couple of performances. So we tried to work on getting more crosses into the box and we did that, also getting more bodies into the box."

Strachan told the official website: "I would have been happy with 41 points when I first took over but as the season has progressed we have looked higher. Six weeks ago I told the lads the target I want them to aim at. That is private but I believe we can still achieve it.

"People keep saying we must be safe now but I will go away and study the league table and look to see which sides we can catch.

"We deserved this win. We dominated both halves and got more crosses and more shots than they did. We were back to how we were a few weeks ago."

Now facing the drop, John Gregory was less than enthused with yesterday's display. John said: "It is a desperate situation and has become increasingly difficult in the last few weeks when we have not maintained the initial impact we had when I came. It is an alarming situation but we have got to believe we can get out of it and we've got an optimistic attitude."

"That was a must-win game for us and we got outfought," he said.

"Southampton were prepared to put their foot in, go the extra yard and win the knockdowns - and we came off second-best.

"We've had a couple of slips like today in the last week or two. The second goal today was an embarrassment. How can anyone concede a goal like that?

"Rory Delap can launch it 40 or 50 yards with a throw - but we just switched off. It's major embarrassment that they scored directly from a throw.

"Some of my players readily accept defeat, compared to others. And now it's slowly slipping out of our grasp. It's going to be extremely difficult to stay in the Premiership."