On the Cross verdict – Saints 1 Hull 1

The last two weeks have been all geared towards the return of the Latvian wizard to solve Saints’ dilemmas up front. A couple of substitute appearances, a goal-scoring 90 minutes for the reserves, two weeks full training and a very winnable game against a promoted side, the scene was set for Marian Pahars to score the winner. Given his past record, we should have known better as he jarred his back in training and missed out on even the bench.

This seemed to affect Saints’ confidence and the enthusiasm of the manager. With Kenwyne Jones suffering with jet lag after a midweek game for Trinidad and Tobago, Redknapp stuck with the out-of-form duo of Fuller and Ormerod.

Surely Saints needed to try something different. Blackstock may be still inexperienced, but he remains a serious option and can at least be described as a natural goalscorer, as shown with a cracking header for England U20 earlier in the week. Maybe it is even time for Theo Walcott to start, or for Leon Best or Tejera to have a run out. At least something different, please.

Outside of the strikers, Redknapp selected the defence and midfield as expected with Claus Lundekvam returning from his stomach injury to resume his partnership with Michael Svensson.

What new is there to say about yet another draw in a game that Saints should have won twice over? I’m tempted to cut and paste one of the match reports from previous games – QPR, Reading, Plymouth – take your pick. For all the talk of having genuine quality in goal, defence and midfield, football really is a simple game that is about putting the ball in the back of the net.

If you can’t do that on a regular basis then you are going to struggle. Saints may well feel that their form should put them in the top few places, but without enough quality up front, we can really have no complaints about our position in the league – 8th and sinking.

The manager still has plenty of complaints and excuses for the run of draws. This time he blamed the result on Marian Pahars’ back complaint saying: ‘You can’t tell me he would not have scored today if he had got a chance. But he always seems to have something wrong with him which is very frustrating’.

He shares the frustration Gordon Strachan used to have with the Latvian wizard’s terrible fitness record and ability to catch even a computer virus. With Saints only really missing the final touch in front of goal, to have a striker of his potential so tantalisingly close is incredibly frustrating.

The real worry for Redknapp is that many inside St. Mary’s are starting to lose faith in the manager. Question marks over substitutions, motivation and the continuing faith shown in the misfiring Ricardo Fuller has led to an outpouring of frustration. In truth it was baffling to see Dexter Blackstock come on so late in the game when Saints were crying out for something new up front.

Ricardo Fuller suffered some unpleasant abuse from sections of the crowd. While he has been poor for much of this season he didn’t deserve the abuse thrown at him which is hardly going to help his fragile confidence and it is a sad day when fans turn on players.

It is still hard to believe the result, but then again you could say exactly the same thing for almost every game of the current run. No disrespect is meant to Hull who countered well and got the point that they and many others have come for at St. Mary’s and got. Peter Taylor has done wonders at Hull and it is great to see a club on the rise.

Despite the incredible sequence of draws, if we beat Leeds on Tuesday night then we could be in fourth position with a solitary defeat all season, but with our current form we can hardly bank on it. Perhaps it will take a game we might expect to draw to actually have some kind of result. Even a loss and a win would be an improvement on the current stalemate that is starting to hang around the place like a bad smell.

Man of the match: Michael Svensson's first home appearance in over 18 months is about the only positive that can be drawn out of the game.

Cameo of the day: Marian Pahars dominated the talk before and after the game and his non-show made another draw almost inevitable. Saints fans are owed a serious amount of goals by the Latvian.

Lemon of the day: Which of the strikers to pick? After the abuse suffered by Ricardo Fuller, it has to be Brett Ormerod's turn, if only for a woeful miss at the death to win the game.