St Mary's Stadium: Southampton 2-3 Leicester City

Southampton 2-3 Leicester City

What a game! I (Adrian) left for the south coast early morning, Fosse Travel Club part of the Ausden Clark group picked me up on Narborough Road at 9.45. As we left Leicester the weather was dismal, but started to brighten as we by passed Oxford on the A34 and as we hit Hampshire the sun shone and it had a feel of late summer. Southampton isn’t the easiest of places to get in and out of because one side of the city is water the main access roads are limited by 25%. We eventually parked up on a trading estate adjacent the St Mary’s Stadium doing the journey in three and a half hours. My last visit here was autumn 2011 and there have been several changes since. Not so much the stadium, it’s like the King Power Stadium only with red seats but the away supporters are now out of camera shot in a corner of the Chapel Stand but also noticeably the forced fun goings on outside the stadium. We now have fencing much closer the stadium than I remember and fan zones created externally behind both the Chapel and Northam Stands. This gives the opportunity of the lesser discerning to buy watered down lager and listen to Ed Sheeran wannabes playing acoustic guitar. One of them was trying to sing a Status Quo song, dreadful! The stadium is yards away from the River Itchen but visitors wouldn’t know as views of the river are blocked by a concrete works. However if you venture further down Marine Parade you can get reasonable views of the Itchen Harbour, the river and the magnificent Itchen Bridge. These views can be accessed near a recently built block of apartments. The game was of high importance to both sides, the Premier League is unforgiving and both these sides promoted back last season are deemed probable relegation candidates. The match was high on entertainment, high on mistakes and was literally a game of two halves. Leicester were abject in the first half and Southampton started well, an early header against the bar by Joe Aribo before an opening goal in 8 minutes. Ryan Manning’s low cross from the left and Cameron Archer reacting quickest pushed the ball home. Southampton continued some enterprising play and a similar goal scored 20 minutes later. Similar in every respect, this time it was Kyle Walker Peters delivering the low ball into the box from the left and Aribo doing the rest. City’s defending was poor, it was too easy. Very little was seen of an attacking force from the visitors until nearly half time El Khanous hitting the inside of a post ,he looks to have ability ,but also looks very light weight. HT 2-0 Steve Cooper made one substitute at half time, he could have made three and it could have got worse, thankfully for City Hermansen made a brilliant save tipping over a header from off all people Wout Faes his own defender. The 3,000 visiting fans were clearly frustrated, Southampton had only picked up one point prior to today’s game and appeared comfortable. Chants reined down for the introduction of Abdul Fatawu, a favourite of the city fans but as he can’t get in the team you would suggest not a favourite of the manager. Finally on the hour the man appears. Was it a manager masterclass or thrown on to keep the fans on side? We will never know. Suddenly the game changed Fatawu was running at the Saints defence on the Leicester right often cutting in on his preferred left foot, you sensed the balance could be changing. On 64 minutes, City get a goal back. Buanonette on loan from Brighton scored from a Fatawu pull back on the bye line. On 71 minutes, a pivotal moment in the game. Fatawu showed his brilliance by getting the ball on his left foot and smashing the crossbar from 25 yards, Southampton failed to clear and when the ball came back, he was then denied by the goalkeeper Ramsdale with a header, however as the ball came loose to Jamie Vardy he appeared to have his shirt pulled by Saints substitute Ryan Fraser. Initially a corner was given but then the ref was advised by the VAR to look at the monitor, we all knew what was coming. Red card to Fraser, his days’ work lasting 11 minutes and a penalty to Leicester. Vardy who hadn’t had the best of games took responsibility and literally wellied it past Ramsdale making it 2-2. You sensed there would be another goal and you weren’t sure who would get it. Southampton had cries for a penalty turned down by the referee, City sub Ayew clearly pulling a Saints shirt at a corner. I believe Anthony Taylor’s reasoning was incorrect and I was surprised the VAR didn’t intervene, Leicester were lucky. 7 minutes of stoppage time, City could have won it the young Argentinian Buonanotte firing a left foot just wide, and so it seemed both sides were settling for a draw. Suddenly we are into the 98th minute and still no final whistle City gain a corner and the referee wants it taken. Que hysteria in the away end. Two City substitutes, involved Winks takes the corner low towards the edge of the penalty box and Jordan Ayew scuffs a shot that squeezes into the net, Ramsdale should have done better. FT 2-3. Leicester had grabbed victory from the jaws of defeat, Saints fans couldn’t believe it. Ayew not surprisingly was taking all the plaudits but the victory was inspired by the introduction of Fatawu which seemed to give the Leicester players and fans the lift desperately required. Vardy enjoyed winding up the locals, he gets stick but gives it back he just has to be careful how far he goes with it. As for the Leicester City fans most arriving on coaches the slow journey out of Southampton towards the M3 was lively, plenty of singing and if anyone was seen wearing a red and white striped shirt on the street, a personal greeting ensued. Both these sides are in for tough seasons and any win has to be celebrated. The weather glorious the game eventful. The journey back to the Midlands was made in darkness with no road delays after a late departure from Melbourne St in Southampton we made good time and I was dropped off outside Marshall’s Jaguar at 8.40pm, just the 11 hours football and travel, but this is what supporters do. Enjoyment is the winning, I’ve had many worse days!

Southampton 1-0
West Ham United

Our journey started at 8:30am
travelling down the M1 Southbound. Following what seemed to be a long journey
down the M25, we arrived at our first stop in Farnborough at 11:30am.
Farnborough were previously known as Farnborough Town but following liquidation
the club reformed as Farnborough FC in 2007. Next we made the brief journey
to Aldershot Town just after 12pm. Again, Aldershot Town were reformed in 1992
after resigning from the Football League as Aldershot FC due to finances. The
Rec has been home of both Aldershot and Aldershot Town. The ground holds just
over 7,000 supporters. Next on the agenda was our lunch in a cafe in Aldershot
before we made the journey to Havant and Waterlooville arriving at 2pm. In 2007/08,
Havant and Waterlooville famously beat Bognor Regis, Fleet Town, Leighton Town,
York City and Notts County, before causing a shock by defeating League One side
Swansea City 4–2 in a third round replay. In the fourth round they played
Premier League Liverpool at Anfield, and caused a sensation by leading twice
before losing 5–2. Our next stop was Portsmouth's Fratton Park. Fratton Park is
iconic for its old fashioned appearance and not to mention the Tudor looking
entrance to the ground. Portsmouth were originally considering a move away from
Fratton Park to a 35,000 seater stadium during their time in the Premier League
which has been put on hold due to the clubs financial status. The Rose Bowl
which is the home of Hampshire County Cricket Club was our next stop on the way
to St Mary’s. The Rose Bowl has been nominated as one of the best international
Cricket grounds in the country and also most improved. The Rose Bowl can hold up
to 25,000 people with the help of temporary seating creating a second tier
around the ground. Around the corner from the Rose Bowl is Eastleigh. Eastleigh
play at the Silverlake Stadium which holds 3,000 fans. We then drove to St
Mary's where we took pictures of the exterior in the daytime and also collect
our pre-booked tickets before visiting the site of The Dell where Southampton
previously played. We parked around the corner from The Dell on Hulse Road off
the A33 which is a 25 minute walk from St Mary’s due to the residential parking
zones around the city. We first walked into the city centre and explored the
WestQuay shopping centre and Bargate ruins before walk toward the ground. Southampton’s
move to St Mary’s was seen as the club returning home, because the club was
formed by members of the nearby St. Mary's Church, as the football team of St.
Mary's Church Young Men's Association before becoming Southampton St. Mary's
F.C., and eventually Southampton FC. The club moved there in 2001 with the
ground capacity of 32,689. The capacity record was beaten on the game with an attendance
of 32,152, which is only 1 more person larger than the previous record set in
2003 with the visit of Arsenal. The game saw Southampton win by 1 goal to nil
with a header before half time by Jos Hooiveld.

St Mary's Stadium

Sunday, 10 November 2024

Southampton 2-3 Leicester City

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