Southampton Geading For Oblivion

That was the headline over at the Times Online. Southampton were on the verge of being relegated to Div. 3 (sorry, I'm in no mood this morning for the fancy name the marketers ) for the first time since 1960.

Saints destiny was not in their own hands. Going into today they were tied with Leicester on 51 points. Only Southampton's horrible defense had them with a -17 GD. They needed Leicester to not win. Or at least if Leicester gets a tie, Saints had to win. It wasn't going to be easy with Sheffield United going for a last minute chance at a play-off spot.

Somehow at home in front of a sold out St. Mary's Southampton managed to pull off a 3-2 win. Stern John had a brace twice over. He had a 2 goals but managed to take a few years off of everyone's life from the stress of being a man down for the last ten minutes after John picked up a 2nd yellow.

SAINTS STAY UP!

Saints Beat Hull

Southampton handled Hull, Jay-Jay Okocha's current club, this morning beating them 4-0. Stern John had a hat trick for the Saints. After Tuesday 0-0 draw at Wednesday at St. Mary's and last weekends 2-1- win at Leicster, Saints find themselves 3 points out a playoff spot. 2 shutout in a row and 1 goal allowed in 3 games may not seem like something to be excited over but Southampton is a squad literally devoid of defenders that can play right now. Christian Dailly returned to West Ham early from his loan at St. Mary's. Defenders Claus Lundekvam (ankle), Wayne Thomas (Achilles), Chris Makin (hip), Darren Powell (calf), Phil Ifil (ankle) and Alexander Ostlund (hamstring) are all out injured. That's right, Southampton are missing 6 defenders to injury.

Injuries aren't the main problem facing George Burley and Southampton in trying to get themselves back into the playoff race in the Championship. The main one is finances. They had to sell Gareth Bale and Chris Baird in the off-season to help make ends meet. Without a new investor, come Boxing Day Burley will have to be deciding which players to sell to help balance the books yet again. More on Southampton's poor finacial situation here.