Super Saints Go Marching On

Southampton  4       Coventry  0

                               Sharp  15    Fonte  18 

                              Hooiveld  58  Lallana  62      

Who would have thought from the ashes of League One just two seasons ago that Southampton football club would again rise to the heights of the Premier League, after they today secured back to back promotions in emphatic style. The saints were rarely troubled in front of an electric St Mary’s crowd, who watched their side prevail as worthy winners against a Coventry side whose relegation had already been confirmed. 

The early nerves were no surprise from Southampton, knowing a win would see them up presuming West Ham took three points at home to Hull. However Coventry started the brighter of the two teams, as Southampton invited pressure on themselves by sitting deep in the opening minutes.

The hosts were them lucky to stay level, after the ball fell to Gary McSheffrey only for the Sky Blue’s captain to be brilliantly denied by keeper Kelvin Davis with eight minutes on the clock.

But after that there was no looking back for Nigel Adkins’s Southampton when they opened the scoring on fifteen minutes. When Adam Lallana volley from the edge of the area was side-tracked by Billy Sharp’s deflection to give him his eighth goal in Southampton colours.

Adkins has now won two promotions in as many seasons

The pre-match nerves were all but gone three minutes later when poor defending from Coventry allowed Portuguese defender Jose Fonte to find space on a corner as he headed the Saints two up and promotion was almost guaranteed.

A young and inexperienced Coventry team showed flashes of talent, Carl Baker’s long range effort was again saved by Davis and it was clear the relegated side lacked the belief and desire of their opponents.

The game was then sealed thirteen minutes after the restart when another corner dropped to centre back Jos Hooiveld who made no mistake in adding a third, as the fans were given yet more to shout about.

The game could have got nasty for Coventry when Lallana made it four after Ricky Lambert’s great header put in on a plate midfielder. But four it stayed rounding off a great day and season for Southampton in front of 32,363 fans making a record attendance at St Marys. 

Manager Nigel Adkins later said “this is down to a lot of people who have done a lot of hard work who deserve all the praise they get”. The question now is can the Saints survive the Premier league or will their celebrations be short lived.