Although just a pre season friendly, this was Saints’ first game since relegation. There was a little anxiety to be felt as a result. Would the players give something to look forward to in the Championship? Would they blood any of the youngsters whom, with money tight, they will depend on next season? More importantly, would they field the players surrounded by transfer speculation; Crouch, Niemi and Lundekvam?
The answer to all of these was yes.
Despite speculation that Crouch's move to Liverpool will be settled before the friendly against
Saints may be trying to show that they wish to keep these players to both the fans and any potential suitors .That keeps the management popular and the price high. However, it's a significant risk when negotiations are well under way.
Well , for Crouch at least. With Celtic's biscuit tin transfer philosophy, anything could happen to Niemi and Lundekvam. Indeed, the Niemi transfer now looks to be dead as Celtic wouldn’t meet the fee.
The game itself was a fairly comfortable opener for the season, although it took 15 minutes for saints to get into the match.
Motherwell dominated the opening exchanges, with former saint Scott McDonald looking particularly dangerous. Although McDonald faded as the game progressed, he showed some of the skill that promised so much during his time at
McDonald's best move came from a well worked one two on the left wing that saw him surge into the penalty. There, he could only dive under pressure to the derision of the away support.
Motherwell continued to push forward and were rewarded by getting the ball into the net on 29 minutes. The Saints defence had pushed up leaving McDonald clearly offside as he received a through ball. However, the flag stayed down and McDonald placed the ball calmly past Niemi.
As saints fans remonstrated with anyone who'd listen, the linesman slowly raised his flag. As belated as the decision was, it illustrated just how much the Saints fans wanted a win. Any kind of good news after last season would do.
The man who finally dragged
Higginbotham not only led the backline, keeping a sometimes doubtful Powell in check, but pushed forward frequently.
Higginbotham’s forward runs gave saints some momentum and they began to dominate play. In fact, were rarely troubled for the next 70 minutes.
Not that saints were particularly battering the Steelmen at the other end. Theo Walcott’s effort wide of goal was one of Saints’ few efforts on goal. Saints looked every bit the pedestrian Championship side this evening. They were solid enough, but lacked any kind of flair or real penetration.
Walcott didn't quite look physical enough, despite his obvious talent. So those pushing for a host of youngsters to be filling the first team should bear in mind Redknapp's views on their readiness for Championship football. At 16, Walcott does have a very bright future.
Physical presence isn't everything of course. Walcott was joined in the starting eleven by Andrew Surman and both were involved in the opening goal. Walcott’s cut back reached Surman at the edge of the box and he drilled it into the net, shortly before half time.
Saints changed their line up at halftime. Unfortunately they kept their shirts one to eleven making it fun to identify the players for the first few moments of the second period.
With fresh legs, well as fresh as you get at this stage of pre season, Saints didn't look troubled as the second half progressed. More good news came from Darren Powell, who looked like a different player in the second period.
Rory Delap and Brett Ormerod came on for Crouch and Pahars. Of them all Ormerod looked the most potent threat, although crouch had to deal with the pointless punts up the park as usual.
Ormerod reaped a reward for his efforts by getting saints second, getting on the end of Delap’s left wing cross.
Having seemingly secured the win, Saints relaxed a little. which is when the problems arose. The second half eleven weren't as cohesive as their first half counterparts. Fernandes rarely, if ever, tracked back.
Without Crouch, there was no natural target man. With no Higginbotham and Lundekvam, saints were leaderless and lacked class at the back. Motherwell started to edge forward.
The first real scare forced a superb reaction save from Alan Blayney. The second resulted in a goal for Motherwell and the best of the evening. Foran’s shot from twenty yards beat Blayney and into the bottom right corner.
Saints didn’t react particularly to their opponents getting a goal back. Only a last ditch tackle prevented Wright from getting through on goal late on. At the other end, Brett Ormerod must have been wondering why he didn't get picked for the first choice good saints eleven.
The game ended quietly with neither side particularly threatening and Saints can look to a solid, professional performance on their first outing of the season.
Match ratings
Niemi - A very quiet game, with little threat posed by Motherwell.
Lundekvam - Looked composed and in control of proceedings. Looked particularly good in relation to his defensive partner, but showed little leadership.
Higginbotham - Dragged Saints into the match, and is surely our regular left back for the season. As he's the only left back we have, that's not saying much, but he did well.
Powell - Shaky at times, lacked the positional sense of Lundekvam but recovered well and put in a few good tackles. A different player in the second half.
Jacobsson – A solid enough performance against a team lacking any real threat.
Nilsson – Competent performance at right back In the first half. Didn’t really do anything to catch the eye going forward though.
Fernandes - Looked lazy even at the half time warm up. Did little in the second half to suggest he'd been saving himself for anything.
Telfer - Solid performance in midfield and he put a stop to any Motherwell ambition. One of Saints better performers and always in control of proceedings.
Quashie - Not a memorable game. Saints midfield did little creatively.
Prutton - Not particularly effective in a disjointed second half Saints display.
Walcott - Talented an with a very bright future. May be used sparingly by Redkanpp, to ensure he develops steadily. I can see him being muscled out of some fixtures.
Surman - Got the opener for Saints but didn't stamp his mark on the game much beyond that. Still, he didn’t look out of place in the team which is a considerable achievement at his age.
Pahars - I kept waiting for Marian's leg to fall off or something. It's great to see him back and able to complete even a half of football. It will obviously take some time before we can expect him back at his best. Let's hope that it's a level of form he's still capable of.
Crouch - Showed excellent control form passes noone else would have been able to do anything with. Saints primary target man will be a huge loss if he departs for
Delap - Still trying to find a spot in the team he's best at. It doesn't look as though it's up front going by this performance. Personally, I'd have him at right back. He worked hard.
Ormerod- Along with Higginbotham, Saints’ star performer. Skillful, energetic and always a threat. Just what we need up front. He was keen to link up with his teammates too.
Kenton - Looked keen to impress. Good tackling although didn't have the opportunity to push forward too often. Easily one of Saints better players though.
Blayney - An outstanding reflex save and overall good work means that Saints are in good hands should Niemi depart.
Wise - thankfully restricted to tactical chats with Saints coaching staff. After all , who needs to see red cards in friendlies?
Man of the Match - Danny Higginbotham
Stinker of the Match - the atrocious linesman