The Happiest Days of our Lives

​Four days after the depressing defeat at home to West Ham, we assemble again at St Mary's to take on top of the table MIllwall, who've played two, won two and only just missed out on automatic promotion last season. A big challenge and one that feels it could shape our season going forward. Lose and we're still on -1 point (we began the season on -4 points as a result of last season's spying shennanigans) and playing catch up while being bottom of the league, draw we're back to parity, win and we've two points and the climb up the table can start properly. 

The team for this top vs bottom clash has a couple of suprises, the biggest of which is that our new left sided centre back Keven Schlotterbeck  (signed from AS Augberg in the German Bundesliga) starts in preference to Jack Stephens. This is widely acknowledged as "a good thing' as Stephens has been poor so far this season (apart from the fake cramp against Stoke). The other possible change was a start for returning hero James Ward-Prowse, but he is only on the bench, which makes sense as he's probably only just finished chatting to the tea ladies and back room staff he knew so well in his previous time at the club after signing late this week. Still no Taylor Harwood-Bellis, so as Stephens is dropped, Flynn Downes is captain and immediatley loses the toss so Millwal can get in our heads and make us kick the wrong way in the first half. Normally we attack the Chapel End in the first half but today we're kicking towards the massed ranks of the Northam stand. 

As the teams line up for kick off, the word that come to mind to descibe MIllwall is imposing. They have some big lads in their team, both centre backs are 6'4" and their centre forward is 6'3". If Tristan Crama had been playing he's also 6'5". Last season they played a back three the smallest of which was 6'4"!! 

We kick off and immediately Millwall take control seeming first to every ball and we are much the more on the back foot and after 15 minutes of defending with the occasional foray into the Millwall half the inevitable happens. A cross from the right is cleared to the edge of Saints box where Mark Sykes eyes light up and his shot goes in the net via an unlucky deflection off of Schlotterbeck. 1-0 Millwall, this could be a long afternoon. I'm in a prediction thing with three of my friends and one of them predicted we'd lose 3-0 and right now he's looking like a genius! 

The crowd do get behind the team and while we still have less of the ball there is some better play from the Saints and after 25 minutes a period of possesion in and around the box results in Flynn Downes being fouled in the middle of the Millwall half just left of centre. These sort of free kicks are treated like a corner  & our bigger players go forward. Ryan Manning's trusty left foot swings the ball in and Cyle Larin times his run perfectly to head the ball into the right side of the goal, 1-1. Given the giants around him, a well taken header from a perfect cross. There's lots of staring at each other in the Millwall defence. 

That goal alters the atmosphere in the ground too as the Saints fans truely find their voice and that impacts on the players who find an extra gear and start to play some nice football. 

Referees this season have been asked to stop blowing for every little touch and nudge and towards the end of the half Schlotterbeck wins a challenge that could have been a free kick to Millwall and while they're complainging about it the ball goes forward to Larin, who is similarly pushed from the back by one of the Millwall centre backs but again no foul. The ball breaks to Leo Scienza and he does what he does best, takes the ball into the MIllwall penalty area, beats the full back for pace and crosses the ball from the bye line. Fin Azaz is stood at the far post for a simple tap in (one of those we all could have scored!) 2-1 Saints. 

Now we have the tricky 8 minutes or so to half time! This is going fairly well until a long ball forward towards the man mountain centre forward results in two Saints players colliding with each other and  the ball breaking to a Millwall player who finds his unmarked mate in our area and we all groan as we see what’s about to happen, except it doesn’t as the Millwall players shot hits the post and bounces away to safety. He buries his head in his shirt (as he should) and we all wonder how he missed. 

Half time follows during which we are “entertained” by the club 18/30 penalty shoot out. This involves the penalty takers spinning around a broom handle 10 times and then taking a penalty with the expected hilarious results. The more they take the less chance they score. Eventually someone wins. 

When the players emerge for the second half, Flynn Downes, who was one of the two involved in the collision in the first half, can’t continue so the prodigal son returns as James Ward-Prowse (JWP) takes his place. Cue the  “James Ward-Prowse my Lord” song from the Northam stand. 

I expected a full on Millwall assault at the start of the second half but it doesn’t really happen and again Saints are playing the better football. So much so that after 10 minutes of the second half, Finn Azaz picks up a loose ball advances on the Millwall box where James Cooper sticks out a long leg which catches Azaz and it’s a penalty, which Scienza takes and places firmly in the bottom left corner past the keepers dive. 3-1!! 

Millwall start to look a bit ordinary but we know that they only need to get one back and it could all change (it has numerous times before!) but Cyle Larin has other ideas. On 62 minutes a loose ball is poked through to him with his back to goal. He flicks it over his head and swings his left leg which glides the ball into the left side of the goal and we all go nuts! 4-1, am I dreaming?? 

Both team ring the changes and Millwall know they’ve had a bad day as they become unrecognisable from the team that took the lead. 

The cherry on the top is yet to come though. In 86 minutes a poor clearance falls to substitute Tom Fellows, who shoots straight at the keeper but he lets it squirm under him and it rolls slowly over the line before Mubama (another sub) can make absolutely sure. Now Fellows has never scored for Saints in just over a season and he’s so shocked he has to check with Mubama that it’s his goal. Once confirmed he then runs off doing the famous Ravanelli celebration with his shirt over his head, which is for his dad!

5 minutes  of injury time passes with Peretz keeping out a consolation goal with his feet and the final score is a remarkable 5-1. 

Suddenly we have 2 points and are above both West Ham and Burnley. Happy days. 

9 to 5

​In an unwitting tribute to the great Dolly Parton, who passed away that day, Saints efforts were limited to the working day on Tuesday when sadly kick off was 7.45pm. 

We were playing West Ham in the League Cup, which is sponsored by the energy drinks company Carabao. They had lost 3-1 at home to Charlton at the weekend and their manager, Nuno Espirito Santo, was starting to feel the heat early in the season. So he did what anyone would and picked a load of acadamy players and those who need a game from the first team squad with his “best” players on the bench. We picked a fairly strong side so all looked good at kick off. 

That got better after 10 minutes when Leo Scienza picked up a loose clearance on the edge of the West Ham penalty area ran right across the area and placed his shot back in the left hand side of goal. 1-0 and well deserved. 

That is, sadly, really where the fun stopped, West Ham grew into the game and Joel Piroe, fashioned two good chances the second of which required a strong save from Peretz. A brief period of attacking from Saints followed and a Scieza free kick was deflected wide for a corner, which teed up some comedy football. The corner was headed out to Cam Bragg whose shot appeared to be heading for the corner flag but he hit it so poorly it had massive spin on it and it became wide ball that was headed back into the area that ultimately fell to Jack Stephens but he’s a centre half so his shot went hopelessly wide when the keeper should have been at least making a save.

Could we get to half time still in the lead? Simple answer, no! A West Ham attack was broken up by an attempt to clear the ball which resulted in a corner. This was swung over and appeared to be going straight to Saints keeper Daniel Peretz, but he got his feet wrong/forgot to raise his arms/forgot he can catch it/saw a mate in the stand and let it glide over his head, where upon 19 year old Josh Ajala gratefully headed it into an empty net.  Half time 1-1.

The second half started much as the first had ended with West Ham starting to control the game and sure enough 8 minutes had passed when a shot from the aforementioned Ajala fell at the feet of Jack Stephen’s who passed it back to Ajala. He gratefully shot it back through Stephen’s legs and into the corner of Saints goal.2-1.

Nuno then smelt blood and brought on 4 subs all of whom would have played for West Ham in the premier league (two were only signed in the summer, but you get my point). That changed the game completely and we were playing catch up thereafter as although we brought on a couple of first choices from the bench, the momentum was with West Ham. 

This was underlined when “Taty” Castellanos made it 3-1 with 15 minutes to go and then 6 minutes from full time Jared Bowen, who should be playing in the Premier league, showed his class to bury a half chance to make the final score 4-1. 

All in all a bad night and if Saints want any feedback, charging £22.50 for a mid week game with home games at either end of weeks and closing a whole stand results in a ground with poor atmosphere which must have impacted the performance. The only real singing came from a full West Ham section, which statrted more in hope than expectation have seen their starting 11, but by the end was in full voice and only made my mood worse! 

Next…..Millwall who are top of the league. 

It’s late

​I’m going to write a blog about all the Saints games that I attend this season. So that’s a treat for you all!! 

The first home game of the 26/27 Championship season was against Stoke City. We had started the season away to Watford and had lost 2-1, our defence having given away two entirely avoidable goals, so pre season hopes were already wobbling. 

The teams are announced 75 minutes before kick off (no I don’t why it’s 75 minutes either!). Although it does give ample time to share your thoughts on the selection with your fellow fans on WhatsApp . This weeks comments were mainly around Taylor Harwood-Bellis not being on the squad and with just over a week left in the transfer window, that meant that he was obviously “on his way”! Otherwise the team was close to what you’d expect. 

We started positively and scored in the first 10 minutes after Flynn Downes threaded the ball through to Cyle Larin who ran from the centre circle outpacing a Stoke centre half (who looked like he had diving boots on!) and then stuck the ball through the legs of the Stoke goal keeper Victor Johansson. 1-0 and all is good until the 26th minute! 

Then Stoke bring the ball forward and pass it out wide to ex Saints player Sam Gallagher who despite being a strapping centre forward when at Saints now plays on the wing! He does what he should do and crosses the ball into the Saints penalty area aided by no Saints player being anywhere near him to stop the cross. But it’s fine as there are 5 Saints players in the box (and a goalkeeper) so they’ll deal with it. Except they decide to play “after you Maud” or musical statues which allows Ethan Galbraith, Stokes big summer signing,  to glide in the area and put the ball into the Saints goal largely unchallenged. 1-1! 

The rest of the first half and the start of the second half are fairly mundane, with Saints playing better after half time as Stoke start show that they’re happy with a point. This gets worse as they start to show they know all the dark arts required to waste time. This is best illustrated by after a delay for some serious injury like a broken finger nail, their goalkeeper has to run back from the half way line as he’s been chatting to the coaching team!! And this is meant to be being stamped out this season!! 

Something has to change and it does after 78 minutes as we take off what should be our two best chances of scoring, Cyle Larin and Leo Scienza. To be fair Larin regularly got hooked after an hour last season and Scienza was never in the game having been doubled marked and therefore nullified. So on came two new signings, Divin Mubama and Lewis Dobbin, one on loan from Man City and one we bought from Aston Villa to give some Premier League quality and so it proved albeit there was another 10 minutes of life threatening cramp and the like before we scored. 

When it came the goal was simple and a thing of beauty. Dobbin goes through the middle of the pitch passes to Finn Azaz in the “D “ of the Stoke box, first touch he plays a perfectly weighted pass the Mubama, he takes a touch and then scores in the far corner of the Stoke goal with his favoured left foot. Cue wild celebrations including Saints captain Jack Stephens collapsing in the Stoke penalty area with an attack of cramp, just to make a point! 

2-1 and we steady ourselves for Stoke raising their game and 5 minutes of back to the wall defending but instead we score a third and it’s a comedy of errors. Flynn Downes plays another lazer guided pass into the feet of another late substitute, Sam Edozie, who looks and probably is a yard offside. No flag is raised and he takes the ball into the area where upon Stoke defender Svante Ingelsson, brought on to shore up the defence, bundles him to the ground giving away a penalty and getting a second yellow card and hence a red card for his troubles. We have two penalty takers, Larin and Scienza, neither of whom are on the pitch so Mubama and Edozie have a game of “rock paper scissors” to decide who’ll take it before Jack Stephens as captain intervenes and tells them the manager has told him Ryan Manning is to take it. This is does and sticks it in the bottom right hand corner just past the dive of Johanssen. 3-1 and shortly after the final whistle goes.

So on paper a comfortable win, but in reality had Stoke upped their game and stopped all the dark arts they could have caused us a problem or two. They chose, however, to try to protect the point they had and ultimately were well beaten by the end. 

Glass Onion

 The Beatles "White Album" is an album  that I don't think I've ever played from beginning to end. Or even from beginning to part way through. It's not clear to me why or how that's happened, it just has. One clue might be that as Apple Music describes it, it's an "eclectic, 30- track album of largely stripped down music". I sort of knew that and I suspect somewhere in my subconscious is that knowledge which has stopped me from playing it or at least starting to do so. Anyway "Glass Onion" from that album popped up on a playlist today and firstly it's a great song that I had no memory of ever hearing before and secondly it made me think about never hearing the album and then about what other albums by bands I love, I have never played.

I need to be clear here, these are not albums that I've heard and didn't like (much of Genesis after "Duke") it's albums to which I've just never listened. Which sounds daft (and it is to be honest) but, for example, Physical Graffiti was another album that until it was bought for me a couple of Christmases ago, I had never sat down and played all the way through. Now both of those are double albums so maybe that's one barrier, but "Afraid of Sunlight" and "Somewhere Else" by Marillion are not and I've never played either of them! Nor is "Let it be" by The Beatles and I've not listened to that either. Another example is Bruce Spingsteen's "High Hopes and I loved it's predecessor "Wrecking Ball". 

But is listening to an album still "a thing' these days? How many of us just ask Siri to "play my music" and skip what we don't like or are not in the mood to hear? (other voice activated services are available!). Or compose playlists and play them? Sitting and listening to an album was the only option in the past but you also had to own it, so maybe our listening tastes have been irreversible changed by "all you can eat" streaming services, but they also remove the excuse of not ever listened to something because you didn't own it. But it also means you can listen to the ones you like more easily, just look back at the end-of-year reviews that your streaming service of choice readily supply. 

Anyway what's your "missing" listening list look like? 

I'm off to  play the "White Album"! 

I’m gonna sit right down and write myself a letter

I’ve struggled with this blog for most of the time that I’ve had it. Latterly over “what or who is it for?”

In part it’s just so I can write, which is school of the blindly obvious I know, but true none the less. So in part is what I write is less important than that I actually write? But then I want the words to mean something. Which brings me to the next question. Who are my audience? Am I writing for myself or for others and if so, who are those “others”? All very deep and confusing.

My Dad wrote a “memoire” before he died, and I and my family have loved reading about parts of his life that we didn’t know about together with reading his take on stories of which we were aware. My sons have together encouraged me to do the same and I’m starting think about what that would look like (or read like, to be more specific!). There’s always that feeling that “my life” would be of no interest to anyone but reading what Dad wrote was fascinating and I only wish we’d talked about parts of it more before he died. So I hope my family might similarly talk to me?

l’m not planning to share it at this stage, but never say never!

Little pink houses

Im a bit behind with my travels, so I’ll cover a few stops in this one blog. 

After Pontevedra, I participated in some time travel. Unbeknown to me, Portugal and Spain are in different time zones so when you cross the border, you lose an hour, or travel back in time, 

(Crossing the border)

My first stop in Portugal was Viana Do Castelo and a mighty fine city it is as they switched on the Christmas lights as we arrived. Actually drove through the crowds for the big switch on. There was a medley of Christmas music that is co ordinated with a brilliant light show and it’s very well done. It plays every hour, on the hour for ten minutes or so until 10pm, except at weekends when it goes on to midnight. What’s slightly less good is when your hotel is yards away from said light show, oh and you’re there at the weekend!! I’ve eventually got the Mariah Carey ear worm out of my head!! It was a seriously good light show though. 

(The lights, but my poor photography doesn’t do them any justice!)

Viana do Castelo also has a funicular railway that goes up to the Sanctuary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which is a Catholic Church high above the city. Of course I went on it! The church is worth the climb up both in its architecture and the views the site gives you all around the city and coast line. There was a mass under way while I was there so I only briefly saw the inside, but that was beautiful too. My step count is still important so I walked back down the 200 plus steps and was glad I took the train up! 

(The church and associated views)

My stay in Viana also included a day trip to Porto, but that will get its own blog.

After Viana I went to Esposende, a surfing resort with a great beach that stretched for miles which included an impossibly long boardwalk that also helped my step count. 

(The beach and church)

It also had one of the most effecting churches I’ve come across so far. Why, well it was empty which sounds silly but the silence and beauty of this simple building was what I needed at that time and it moved me. 

Next on my trip down the Portuguese coast was Costa Nova, which is a peninsular roughly 21 miles west of the city of Aveiro. Again a long beach with the power of the Atlantic  present, but this place had a charm of its own, based around the houses that lined the streets, which were mostly painted in stripes from top to bottom. The history is that originally the fishermen would paint their huts that they used for storing pots, lines and other equipment red and black stripes so they could see them on the shoreline. This developed into painting these huts a specific colour, say red, with white stripes so you knew that was your hut through the mist and fog and your neighbour would be yellow and another blue, etc etc. Over the years these designs have become the norm for all properties so that every one is more or less painted a different colour with white stripes and the whole effect is both charming and beautiful. Obviously I liked the red and white striped ones best!

(Striped houses)

As someone who has lived a largely black, white and grey colour scheme over the last few years, seeing such vivid colours reawakened a part of me that needed rediscovering. No more black hoodies, jeans and trainers. 

I’ll end this blog here as it’s getting too long. Stayed tuned for Aveiro and beyond! Oh and Porto!

Honesty

This trip is very much an exploration of foreign travel for me as the last time I went out side of the UK was over 20 years ago and my trips abroad have always been in a group or when I was married. Finding what I like about where I’m visiting is therefore a new experience and it’s taking time for me to understand that. If you had said to me this time last year that I’d be travelling around Spain/Portugal, I would have said you’d mistaken me for someone else. If I’m really honest, I was treading water, fooling myself I was ok and literally shutting out the world by keeping curtains closed as my garden was horribly overgrown. Over the last 8 months much has changed in my life and latterly very much for the better. This trip is a good way to bring this year to a close and begin 2025 in a new place with exciting possibilities. 

At first arriving somewhere without a place to sleep was rather daunting and finding a place to eat even more so, as my previously documented attempts to order dinner prove! But that changed as I got more confident. Now I’m arriving somewhere mid afternoon or later and booking a room there and then plus finding dinner in a place I don’t know, and it’s fun and I’m loving the variety and spontaneity of each place I visit. 

I didn’t think I was a museum person but then I went to Pontevedra museum! To be honest it was free and I’m ashamed to say that was what initially attracted me. It was amazing however and almost too big to take it all in. There was room after room  - 6 floors, half had 4 big rooms, half had up to 8 rooms - of paintings, sculptures, statues, furniture, relics and pottery/ceramics. Mostly it was art works and there were far too many to do justice to many here, but they were from the Middle Ages to this century, mainly Spanish artists and of all shapes and sizes (murals to miniatures). I loved the variety of styles, the way that emotion was expressed, that an artist could fill three massive mural size painting with life as he saw it. In some just the colours used spoke to me and there were modern paintings where parts were three dimensional with objects reaching out from the canvas. I left feeling lifted by the experience and grateful that notwithstanding my reason for going in I’d found something that I’ll always remember.