On the Cross verdict - Crewe

After playing the youngsters in our mid-week win over Southend, Harry kept with the line-up that beat Norwich. The real surprises were on the bench with Nathan Dyer coming on late to make his first appearance for the Saints and Theo Walcott and Dexter Blackstock missing.

Niemi
Hajto, Lundekvam, Powell, Higginbotham
Prutton, Oakley, Quashie, Belmadi
Jones (Ormerod, 54), Fuller (Dyer, 87).

Subs: Smith, Wise, Cranie.

Saints' defence is unrecognisable from last season’s shambles. They look organised, aggressive and were rarely troubled despite Crewe’s attempts to pass their way through. Even Claus looked back to his best alongside Powell, who is proving the aggressive defensive partner he needs to play the sweeping role he’s suited to.

To be fair Saints will face stiffer tests than Crewe at home, but four clean sheets out of five tells its own story and we still have Michael Svensson in the stands!

Saints showed some quality passing moves in midfield from the off and really were a class apart. Quashie and Belmadi bossed the game and deserved their goals with able support from Matt Oakley and the usual mix of endeavour, but not always end product from David Prutton.

The confidence was clear to see after our recent victories as Saints pinged the ball from side to side and played some lovely one twos to open up the Crewe defence.

We can only hope that after his superb solo strike, Belmadi signed an extended contract when he ran to the bench to celebrate. He and Quashie combined to great effect and made for another pleasant afternoon’s viewing and deserved their goals.

Same line-up, same problems in attack, with Saints lacking the real cutting edge that our approach play deserved. Kenwyne Jones was unlucky not to score, hitting the post and blasting over from close range, but you felt that with a touch more quality up front Saints could have scored more.

Fuller again looked unfit, although he improved after having a strike ruled out for offside in the second half. Let’s hope this gives him the confidence and the improved fitness he clearly needs to get back to his best.

Saints fans missed out on our traditional cameo from Theo Walcott, who took a minor knock in training this week, but were treated to another sight of Saints’ future with a first league appearance for Nathan Dyer after his goalscoring debut for Saints in the Carling Cup. His first touch was a quality back heel that presented Brett Ormerod with a great chance to score.

Although he was only on the pitch for a few minutes, he showed glimpses of his electrifying pace and it would be interesting to see him in a race with Theo Walcott…

This was the most convincing home win I have seen in a long time and it made for a relaxing afternoon’s viewing. At times it was men against boys and Saints never really looked in danger of letting slip their lead. Yes, there are more testing games to come, but this win and clean sheet will only help the confidence of the players.

A win against Coventy on Monday night and Saints will be top. How far we have come since the last minute defeat to Luton.

The match featured some quality banter from the terraces, notably laying into Rupert Lowe over his failure to loosen the purse strings and add the two or three quality players that Harry clearly wants. With the match effectively won, the Northam Stand made their feelings clear with memorable echoes of the chant for Theo, ‘And we’ve still got Rupert on the board’, plus, ‘And we’ve still got money in the bank’. Quite.

Make no mistake, if Saints get their usual bad luck with injuries over the course of this season, the squad is looking thin and it’s vital that Harry is allowed to get players in before the close of the transfer window to really stamp our mark on this division.

Man of the match: Hard to chose between Belmadi and Quashie who both scored with quality strikes and ran the game for Saints. Belmadi edges it for a superb solo goal, ghosting past defenders and burying his finish into the top corner. Sign here please, Djamel.

Cameo of the day: Nathan Dyer’s first league appearance for Saints came late in the day, but he still managed to show his pace and quality in the few minutes he was allowed. The thought of him and Theo storming down the Saints wings in years to come will give Saints fans a great deal of optimism.

Lemon of the day: He’s getting fitter and better and was unlucky to have a goal ruled off for offside, but again Fuller failed to take his chance up front with another lightweight performance. With Harry looking to sign a striker before the transfer window closes (although Rupert Lowe may have something to say about that), he is fast running out of chances to show what he was capable of at Preston.