Through a set of circumstances that started with old friends getting together for a coffee, I ended up going to the last game of the season at St Mary's.
Saints were playing Aston Villa with both teams needing three points. Saints are hoping to finish in the top 6 (just writing that feels so good!) and despite having reached the FA cup final in a couple of weeks, Aston Villa could still be relegated to the Championship.
Saints have suffered a dip in form recently and Villa have been on a good run following the appointment of Tim Sherwood as manager, so a tough game for Saints was likely.
Well how wrong was that! Saints started very well and had a goal disallowed (incorrectly) for offside in the first 5 minutes. Then Graziano Pellè was through with only, Shay Given, the Villa goal keeper to beat, but Given stopped his shot.
After a warning that Villa could be dangerous on the break. Saints took the lead when Sadio Manė took a headed pass into the Villa area, he rode one tackle, held off another and shot at the keeper, who saved the shot. The ball however, bounced behind the keeper into an empty space and Manè was able to tap the ball into the goal, 1-0!!
A minute later, Manè broke down the right wing and played a lovely through ball to Shane Long, who was in on the Villa keeper. As Given dived at Long's feet and appeared to foul Long, the ball was diverted sideways and Manè was quickest to fire the ball into an unguarded goal for 2-0!
Another minute later, the Saints worked a flowing series of passes down the left side of the Villa defence which ended with Shane Long clear on the left side of the penalty area. He looked up, saw Manè on the right side of the box and squared the ball across for Manè to volley the ball past Shay Given, 3-0!!!!
All of which means that Sadio Manè scored a hat-trick in 2 minutes 57 seconds, which is the fastest hat trick ever in the Premier league. The previous one was 4 minutes 22 seconds by Liverpool's Robbie Fowler, a record which most pundits and players thought would never be broken! Well they didn't reckon on Sadio!
For the record Shane Long scored two more in the first half, the second of which was a 35 yard volley! Villa scored right before half time, so it was 5-1 at half time!
With all that excitement in the first half, it was likely that the second half would struggle to match the first and that proved to be the case. Saints did score one more goal through a great finish by Graziano Pellé so the game ended 6-1 to the home side. Europe looks more likely for Saints and despite this result Villa are safe from relegation as other results went in their favour.
Finally a big thank you to my friend Dawn, without whom I wouldn't have been there to witness a football record being set that should stand for a long time.
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