2:45pm - I had thought that I was nervous enough in the last hours of polling day when there was nothing else to do and it was just us all waiting for the election results to trickle in. But that's nothing to the sick-in-the-stomach feeling I have now, 15 minutes to go until Southampton kick off against Man Utd and the other three important matches start. This will be an attempt at a live blog. Hopefully I'll be able to cope with it.
Current League Table (before kick off)
17. Norwich City
18. Southampton
19. Crystal Palace
20. West Bromwich Albion.
3pm - My first memory of football is the latter stages of our promotion season of 1977/78 so I can just remember Saints being not being in the top division, but I don't remember what it's like to be there. Ormerod's in the team replacing Crouch, it would be wonderful if a bit-part player could save us this season.
3.03pm - United look a lot better than us, I wish I didn't have to watch, but I do.
3.07pm - United fans chanting "Going Down" to us. Is there a special school Man Utd fans go to to be so charmless? They are expecting us all to support them about Glazer too.
3.10pm - YESSSSSSSS. First chance of any note and Nigel Quashie scores.
17. Southampton
18. Norwich
19. Crystal Palace
20. West Bromwich Albion
3.13pm - And in the excitement, Fulham have scored against Norwich, McBride becomes my favourite American by scoring for Fulham
17. Southampton
18. Crystal Palace
19. Norwich
20. West Bromwich Albion
3.15pm - The Saints goal is proved to be an own goal by O'Shea, but I don't care. I'm not any less nervous, 25 years of supporting Saints (before then I was an Arsenal fan for 3 years) has taught be never to take anything for granted. We almost score but Wes Brown clears off the line.
3.18pm - Brett Ormerod caught offside again, that's been his problem from earlier in the season. I wonder how bad he was at that in that at Wigan... Bugger Fletcher just equalised, that's 1-1. Positions still unchanged, but that makes the margin tighter.
17. Southampton 33
18. Crystal Palace 33
19. Norwich 33
20. West Bromwich 32
3.21pm - Huge save by Niemi from Van Nistelrooy. We're still alive.
3.23pm - Another corner, another chance, Ormerod jumped so high, but headed over.
3.26pm - Silvestre joins Brown in the ref's book, we've got a free kick by the corner flag. Ball pings around a bit, but evantually United clear it.
3.31pm - Not much in the match, United dominant but strangely weak in front of goal. We're still surviving but one goal by Norwich, Palace or West Brom will keep them up and send us down.
3.34pm - Quashie has a header just loop over the bar. Charlton score against Palace, it's 1-0 there and Fulham go 2-0 up against Norwich.
17. Southampton 33
18. Norwich 33
19. Palace 32
20. West Brom 32
3.36pm - Still a goal by West Brom against the dreaded Pompey will send us down and it's bit nervous, the danger is that we might think a draw's enough for us and it won't be. We need to win, if we win and Norwich don't score 3 or Palace not score 4 then we'll stay up.
3.39pm - Is it just me or does O'Shea look like Peter Kay?
3.41pm - We're certainly wanting this more, but United are so much better than us. COME ON YOU SAINTS.
3.45pm - 1 minute of injury time to play. Smith just lobbed too long.
3.46pm - and that's half-time, 45 minutes from safety. COME ON YOU SAINTS.
3.57pm - on the SaintsForever message board someone's saying that he wants to cry, scream, shout and vomit all at the same time. I know exactly how he feels. If we can just get through these 45 minutes then we can put this season behind us and start next with a clean slate. All we have to do is win.
4:02pm - We're back, no chances yet.
4.06pm - Odd, according to the rules, all the 2nd halves must kick off at the same time, but according to the BBC, the Fulham v Norwich and the Saints v United game have kicked off before the other matches. This could benefit West Brom.
4:09pm - The game seems slower than the first half, I really hope we're not settling for this, West Brom are bound to win.
4.11pm - At the moment, Norwich have to score 2 to survive, Palace have to score 2 to survive, West Brom need just 1, but United just need 1 to send us down.
4.13pm - Fulham are 3-0 up now against Norwich, Norwich need 3 now to change anything. They had the benefit of having their destiny in their own hands, a win for them would trump anything we did, but now assuming they can't score 4, a win for us will ensure survival.
4.17pm - Coming up to the hour mark and we haven't had a chance on goal this half so far. We're not going to be able to ride our luck against United for another 30+ minutes, we have to score.
4.19pm - And it all goes wrong. West Brom up against Pompey and Van Nistelrooy scores for United.
17. West Brom 34
18. Norwich 33
19. Saints 32
20. Palace 32
4.21pm - Palace equalise at The Valley against Charlton, it drops us down from 17th two minutes ago, to bottom now. That doesn't matter to us too much, it's still in our hands, a win will keep us up.
17. West Brom 34
18. Palace 33
19. Norwich 33
20. Saints 32
4.23pm - Southampton til I die, Southampton til I die, I know I am, I'm sure I am, Southampton til I die.
4.26pm - Strangely I'm actually calmer now then when we were in a safety position, I don't have to worry about the other games, just this one.
4.29pm - Phillips and Delap on for Le Saux and Prutton, moving into a 4-3-3 formation.
4.30pm - Andy Johnson scores a penalty, surprise surprise and Palace are in the survival spot.
17. Palace 35
18. West Brom 34
19. Norwich 33
20. Saints 32
So all the four teams have had some time in the coveted 17th spot.
4.34pm - Norwich 4-0 down now at Fulham, if they weren't down before they are now.
4.35pm - Calum Davenport on for Olivier Bernard, 12+ minutes left to score twice, it's a tall order but it's never over till it's over.
4.37pm - West Brom 2-0 up now, it doesn't alter things for us, we still have to win, but a win is all we need.
4.38pm - Camara hit the bar... corner to us... but nothing comes of it.
4.40pm - "It's not often that the final day of the season isn't all about United" Alan Parry trying to make it all about United.
4.42pm - Camara goes down in the box, but it was a weak penalty appeal. Palace concede at The Valley so West Brom are back in 17th.
17. West Brom 34
18. Palace 33
19. Norwich 33
20. Saints 32
Only 4+ minutes left, it's looking too late for us now.
4.45pm - Steve Bennett turns down a stronger appeal when Camara tumbles, it needs 2 Saints goals or 1 for Saints and 2 for Pompey for us to survive now.
4.48pm - Massive cheer from the crowd when it's announced that there's 4 minutes of injury time to be played.
4.49pm - MLT "Going down isn't the end of the world" I know Matt, but it feels like it.
4.51pm - Norwich now 6-0 down against Fulham, it's disappointing for me, I can't imagine being a Canaries fan right now.
4.52pm - And that's it, we're down. They are still playing at The Valley and The Hawthorns, I'll carry on till the final whistle there.
4.53pm - West Brom have finished 2-0 winners, but if Palace score a winner... but that's it, Charlton 2 Palace 2 and West Brom stay up.
17. West Brom 34
18. Palace 33
19. Norwich 33
20. Saints 32
No comments:
Post a Comment