Do Prado own goal denies Saints famous win

7:34pm Tuesday 1st January 2013 in Sport

Do Prado own goal denies Saints famous win Do Prado own goal denies Saints famous win

Arsenal may have struggled at Southampton today but Guly do Prado's own goal ensured they would return to north London with a point.

Arsene Wenger's side rarely threatened on the south coast in a game that the relegation-threatened hosts looked more likely to win.

Saints proved a much different proposition to the team that Arsenal ruthlessly dispatched of 6-1 in September, taking the lead after 34 minutes.

It was a goal that the Gunners should have prevented but, after wasting several chances to clear their lines, Gaston Ramirez fired the hosts in front.

The lead lasted seven minutes, though, as Theo Walcott, making his first appearance at St Mary's since leaving in 2006, whipped in a free-kick that Do Prado could only prod into his own goal.

It proved the evening's decisive moment as, try as they might, Southampton were unable to find a winner in a second half they dominated.

Much of the build-up to today's game surrounded graduates of Saints' fabled academy.

Both Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain started at the place they once called home, while speculation was rife that Luke Shaw, the latest star off the production line, could soon follow them to the Emirates Stadium.

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Arsenal began strongly at St Mary's and Santi Cazorla saw a long-range strike deflect just wide in the fifth minute.

Southampton's Artur Boruc, making his first appearance since October 28, was fortunate that his fumble at the resulting corner did not cost his side.

The Polish goalkeeper was looking more than a little rusty in terms of catching and kicking, although Saints were beginning to show signs of life.

After Maya Yoshida saw penalty claims waved away, Steven Davis, one of the three changes made by Nigel Adkins, almost found Rickie Lambert with a through ball.

The striker was offside anyway and Arsenal soon returned to the attack, with Yoshida having to react smartly to block a Lukas Podolski strike.

The Japan international again had to be on his toes to stop Walcott getting a shot on goal after a break in play for Jack Wilshere to receive treatment.

Neither side were creating much in the final third and the opening goal came thanks to shambolic defending rather than any moment of genius.

Arsenal failed on a number of occasions to clear the ball and, after seeing a shot blocked, Jason Puncheon pulled back for Ramirez to fire home just inside the 18 yard box in the 34th minute.

The lead lasted just seven minutes, though, as Puncheon gave away a free-kick wide on the left.

Walcott swung it in and Do Prado directed past his own goalkeeper at the near post to send the 3,141 visiting fans into raptures.

Arsenal thought they had a second before the break as Walcott found a way past Boruc, only for it to be chalked off for offside.

The home side responded well when the teams re-emerged for the second half, with a Lambert header across the six yard box just evading his team-mates.

Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny proved his worth in the 56th minute by denying the hosts twice in quick succession.

The 22-year-old palmed a threatening Do Prado effort behind and from the resulting corner he had to react quickly to stop Lambert bundling home.

Wenger brought on Olivier Giroud for the ineffective Podolski in a bid to change the game, although Saints again wasted a chance when Lambert slipped in the box with the goal at his mercy.

Morgan Schneiderlin provided the cross and was then booked for a foul on Cazorla, before Puncheon fired into the side-netting from an acute angle and Ramirez struck over.

Walcott stung the palms of Boruc on a rare Arsenal move forward, before Ramirez saw a goal ruled out for a foul.

Both managers made changes in a bid to find a winner, with Mikel Arteta coming close with a fierce 25-yard strike.

Gervinho hit the side-netting as Arsenal again came close, before another substitute, Steve de Ridder, was booked for a foul on Sagna.

Szczesny parried a late Puncheon strike and Yoshida cleared a later cross as the match ended level, propelling Saints out of the drop zone.

Comments(37)

El Santo says...
7:39pm Tue 1 Jan 13

Unfair headlines. Guly worked really hard today, as the rest of the team. We should have won, but I still have a sweet taste in my mouth because we proved that we can PLAY FOOTBALL. We took the ball from Arsenal, after 10 minutes and never really gave it back. We didn't look as a team fighting to stay in the PL but as an established one.
And, let's not forget, Lallana will eventually be back!

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Chicago Saint says...
7:48pm Tue 1 Jan 13

A fine performance by the team. IMO:
Boruc - couple of fine saves, his experience was a plus
Yoshida - his best game this season today, absolutely solid!
Cork, Fonte - solid
Shaw - nullifed Ox superbly
Schneider - solid, unfortunately will miss a game now with 5th yellow
Davis - held his ground
Do Prado - hustled all day, should not be held responsible for draw
Gaston, Punch - excellent solid playmakers, hustled all day!
Lambo - not his best game, but a definite presence in the opposing defence.

Subs: Steve, showed promise, took a good yellow to save danger
Jayrod - far from ready for EPL
Prowse - promising as usual

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Ontario Saint says...
7:48pm Tue 1 Jan 13

Agree totally Guly had a great game and the Echo should be ashamed of themselves for as much as blaming Guly for us not winning. I think Guly solidified his place on the team and it was a great day for the Saints Hopefully we can knock Chelsea out of the cup next week and hopefully too we can keep Luke Shaw as he is class

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Ontario Saint says...
7:49pm Tue 1 Jan 13

Agree totally Guly had a great game and the Echo should be ashamed of themselves for as much as blaming Guly for us not winning. I think Guly solidified his place on the team and it was a great day for the Saints Hopefully we can knock Chelsea out of the cup next week and hopefully too we can keep Luke Shaw as he is class

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batesieboy says...
7:52pm Tue 1 Jan 13

Saints were everything today that they were not against Sunderland. Should have taken all three points, as we were markedly superior.We have to play like this every game for the rest of the season! It worries me that we could and should have won the last 3 games, but only managed 3 points instead of 9.

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batesieboy says...
7:56pm Tue 1 Jan 13

I couldn't care less about the Chelsea cup game. We have many Cup Finals to play before the end of the season and we need to finish higher than eighteenth.That is all that is important.

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Puddletown Saint says...
8:00pm Tue 1 Jan 13

Great performance today.

Now lets give the reserves a chance v Chelsea. We know are first team. This will give them a chance to shine to either push for a start or a move:-

Boruc Rich Fox Fonte Hoover
Steeeeve Guly Davis JWP
Maka Jay

Davis Cork Yos Reeves Punch
Rickie Gaston

Cannot wait COYR

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philiprhampton says...
8:05pm Tue 1 Jan 13

Where's Tad ????????

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willygetaway says...
8:06pm Tue 1 Jan 13

sometimes i think the echo office is full of skunts
I was proud to be a saints fan today and i thought that, Guly played his socks off Good on ya my son
NOW BRING ON CHELSKI

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manimaul says...
8:07pm Tue 1 Jan 13

What a great game. Puncheon looking very strong, Guly played well and should remain in the first team based on his performances last couple of games.
Disgraceful booing yet again from our supporters towards certain players in our team.

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JCSaint says...
8:08pm Tue 1 Jan 13

Chicago Saint wrote:
A fine performance by the team. IMO:
Boruc - couple of fine saves, his experience was a plus
Yoshida - his best game this season today, absolutely solid!
Cork, Fonte - solid
Shaw - nullifed Ox superbly
Schneider - solid, unfortunately will miss a game now with 5th yellow
Davis - held his ground
Do Prado - hustled all day, should not be held responsible for draw
Gaston, Punch - excellent solid playmakers, hustled all day!
Lambo - not his best game, but a definite presence in the opposing defence.

Subs: Steve, showed promise, took a good yellow to save danger
Jayrod - far from ready for EPL
Prowse - promising as usual
Won't get a yellow, was up previous match, all yellows reset now!

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Nicole23 says...
8:14pm Tue 1 Jan 13

I seem to remember Stoke scoring 2 own goals on Saturday.

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The Music Man says...
8:21pm Tue 1 Jan 13

Ontario Saint wrote:
Agree totally Guly had a great game and the Echo should be ashamed of themselves for as much as blaming Guly for us not winning. I think Guly solidified his place on the team and it was a great day for the Saints Hopefully we can knock Chelsea out of the cup next week and hopefully too we can keep Luke Shaw as he is class
agree - unfair headline by The Echo....only giving the Guly haters more bait

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hdfw09 says...
8:25pm Tue 1 Jan 13

Fail to understand the love affair with Guly. Yes, he tries hard. But he isn't very good. Believe he makes more mistakes than he succeeds. It is nice to show effort, it is better to show results. I don't hold him accountable for only securing 1 point. We had any chances and could have won. Regardless, Saints look much improved. Feeling good about our future. Bring on Butland!

Lets Go Saints!

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skiptonsaint says...
8:38pm Tue 1 Jan 13

Guly played well
Not his fault

I went to emirates and sat in arsenal end and didnt get up after third goal

Such an Improvement since then

Clearly out keeper situation is an issue

But if we are going to improve team they need to be much better players than we have

We are in an odd postion imo as we are improving so quickly

Are we sure fonte and yoshida arent prem quality ?

And nigel out thought wegner tactically tonight and they had an extra days rest

Lets be careful that any new additions dont disrupt what is clearly a great team spirit. Ie qpr

So proud to be a saint tonight. That performance went round the world and we looked good.

So odd we are not higher ...what a tough league but We are now difficult to beat.

Well done saints , nigel and team coyr

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magnette says...
8:41pm Tue 1 Jan 13

It wasn't an own goal because the ball was on target, so it was a deflection. If he had let it go Koscielny was on hand for a tap in. He dived in as he is mean't to do and this time it didn't work.
Best team performance I've seen,

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Jesus_02 says...
9:26pm Tue 1 Jan 13

Exactly the same words as

http://www.london24.
com/sport/arsenal/gu
ly_do_prado_s_own_go
al_hands_arsenal_luc
ky_draw_at_southampt
on_1_1757493

Only less anti Saints headline

mmmm

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rocketone says...
9:39pm Tue 1 Jan 13

Was Spiders yellow deliberate so be will miss the Chelsea cup game?
All round team performance, thoroughly pleasing to watch.
I hope we can kick on a little more and cement our place in this division.
If we do dabble in the transfer market, who goes? Obviously squad players will feel the effect first, but who of the others will step aside?
I do not think that anyone we buy will walk straight in to the team, but no point buying anyone who is 't better than what we have.
The Sun printed a list of all the Prem players out of contract soon. Only one I would really fancy is Frank Lampard. Wouldn't that be a capture?
Oh the days of Lawrie Mac, he would have already locked him in a room with a pen and contract!

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magnette says...
9:40pm Tue 1 Jan 13

Jesus_02 wrote:
Exactly the same words as

http://www.london24.

com/sport/arsenal/gu

ly_do_prado_s_own_go

al_hands_arsenal_luc

ky_draw_at_southampt

on_1_1757493

Only less anti Saints headline

mmmm
Ha! You'd think the Echo couldn't be bothered, or something!

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Meribelsaint says...
9:58pm Tue 1 Jan 13

magnette wrote:
It wasn't an own goal because the ball was on target, so it was a deflection. If he had let it go Koscielny was on hand for a tap in. He dived in as he is mean't to do and this time it didn't work.
Best team performance I've seen,
Agreed. I'm gutted for him. He had to go for it. Just gives the Guly haters some ammo. Good team performance, deserved the win.

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Seedhouse the Unrepentant says...
11:34pm Tue 1 Jan 13

Chicago Saint wrote:
A fine performance by the team. IMO:
Boruc - couple of fine saves, his experience was a plus
Yoshida - his best game this season today, absolutely solid!
Cork, Fonte - solid
Shaw - nullifed Ox superbly
Schneider - solid, unfortunately will miss a game now with 5th yellow
Davis - held his ground
Do Prado - hustled all day, should not be held responsible for draw
Gaston, Punch - excellent solid playmakers, hustled all day!
Lambo - not his best game, but a definite presence in the opposing defence.

Subs: Steve, showed promise, took a good yellow to save danger
Jayrod - far from ready for EPL
Prowse - promising as usual
A brillant yellow card. It had to be given. He now misses the cup game, in which he would have been rested anyway to give others a chance.

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SFCSaint says...
11:47pm Tue 1 Jan 13

funny how all the skates have stopped commenting isnt it!

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ilogik_23 says...
12:13am Wed 2 Jan 13

I was at the game today with my brother who's a fan, I went as a neutral and have to say I think they well deserved the point they got, but maybe were a touch unfortunate not to take all 3. Having just watched MOTD I have to agree with Lawro, Gastons superb finish after merely holding off Koscielny on another day would have gone unpunished, and Saints would have scored their second, maybe going onto win, who knows, the Arsenal defender leapt back looking like he'd been floored by the Haymaker! If Saints continue in that vein I believe they can mantain ther EPL status next season, and on another note Guly's own goal was unfortunate, he had a fairly good game, same to be said about J Punch, very clever tricky player, dn't recal the England side having too many of those in their side these days, so maybe, just maybe.... Happy New Year all ( ; S )

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OSPREYSAINT says...
12:13am Wed 2 Jan 13

Seedhouse the Unrepentant wrote:
Chicago Saint wrote:
A fine performance by the team. IMO:
Boruc - couple of fine saves, his experience was a plus
Yoshida - his best game this season today, absolutely solid!
Cork, Fonte - solid
Shaw - nullifed Ox superbly
Schneider - solid, unfortunately will miss a game now with 5th yellow
Davis - held his ground
Do Prado - hustled all day, should not be held responsible for draw
Gaston, Punch - excellent solid playmakers, hustled all day!
Lambo - not his best game, but a definite presence in the opposing defence.

Subs: Steve, showed promise, took a good yellow to save danger
Jayrod - far from ready for EPL
Prowse - promising as usual
A brillant yellow card. It had to be given. He now misses the cup game, in which he would have been rested anyway to give others a chance.
Regarding Spider, Correct me if I am wrong, but check the rules, the 5 yellow card rule ceased on 31st December, the next target is ten yellows. He will get a reprimand and a warning about his future conduct for getting five. Hence the fact that he was biting more today, he has been holding back for three or four games.

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ilogik_23 says...
12:23am Wed 2 Jan 13

Oh and one other quick point (moan) about my Saints experience - I Had to sit in front of a complete idiot who shouted out every time Arsenal got the ball ' SMASH HIM ' Clearly the guy never played higher than Sunday league Pub football and would probably be shouting ' Stupid Idiot ' if a Saints player did smash a Gooner in a tackle, only to just mis-time his challenge by half a second and see Red... What a moron, lol :)

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OSPREYSAINT says...
12:50am Wed 2 Jan 13

SFCSaint wrote:
funny how all the skates have stopped commenting isnt it!
Not funny and please don't tease them they will treat it as a response, shshsh!

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Malcy says...
8:40am Wed 2 Jan 13

I listened to the game and it's as if I'm watching with Adam and Dave commentating, there description of the action is first class. The credit for the performance is the Team the Manager and his Coaches, if a top 4 side is held to a draw or beaten the Media often suggest that the opposing team had a bad day not that they, Arsenal were outplayed so it was down to the better Team on the day and that was Saints, since the first game Saints have improved, now everyone wants wins rather than draws especially at home, after all the hard work they create through the game they deserve it

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Rob The Saint NOT in NZ says...
8:43am Wed 2 Jan 13

So enjoyed yesterday's game. Thought we looked a complete unit, closing down Aresenal, looking to support each other & breaking forward in numbers.

We were the better team, & were unfortunate to have Gaston's second goal disallowed - it was a great piece of control & finish.

I also thought at the end we, as supporters, showed our class with the applause for Theo & Alex - appreciation to them too for their recognition of us - cheers guys!

It's going to a great 2013 - COYR!

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Ozmosis says...
8:50am Wed 2 Jan 13

The Music Man wrote:
Ontario Saint wrote:
Agree totally Guly had a great game and the Echo should be ashamed of themselves for as much as blaming Guly for us not winning. I think Guly solidified his place on the team and it was a great day for the Saints Hopefully we can knock Chelsea out of the cup next week and hopefully too we can keep Luke Shaw as he is class
agree - unfair headline by The Echo....only giving the Guly haters more bait
Agreed. You could see when he was subbed that he was spent. He worked hard and the own goal was unfortunate.

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right back in the bar says...
9:07am Wed 2 Jan 13

No blame attached to Guly - he worked hard like all the rest. With more luck and refereeing decisions going our way we might have ended up with twice the points tally for the four xmas games. Big tests coming up now but if we keep that level of performance we can win the games against Villa and Wigan and get points from Everton and Newcastle. Praise to NA especially for the prep and set up in these last two games. Looks like a prem manager all over.

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Velleity says...
10:03am Wed 2 Jan 13

OSPREYSAINT wrote:
Seedhouse the Unrepentant wrote:
Chicago Saint wrote:
A fine performance by the team. IMO:
Boruc - couple of fine saves, his experience was a plus
Yoshida - his best game this season today, absolutely solid!
Cork, Fonte - solid
Shaw - nullifed Ox superbly
Schneider - solid, unfortunately will miss a game now with 5th yellow
Davis - held his ground
Do Prado - hustled all day, should not be held responsible for draw
Gaston, Punch - excellent solid playmakers, hustled all day!
Lambo - not his best game, but a definite presence in the opposing defence.

Subs: Steve, showed promise, took a good yellow to save danger
Jayrod - far from ready for EPL
Prowse - promising as usual
A brillant yellow card. It had to be given. He now misses the cup game, in which he would have been rested anyway to give others a chance.
Regarding Spider, Correct me if I am wrong, but check the rules, the 5 yellow card rule ceased on 31st December, the next target is ten yellows. He will get a reprimand and a warning about his future conduct for getting five. Hence the fact that he was biting more today, he has been holding back for three or four games.
You're bang on - it's five before Dec 31st that matters.

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saintmicky says...
10:08am Wed 2 Jan 13

Could it be that there were never any 'Guly haters' in the first place? Those who have been prepared critically analyse performances have been tarred as 'haters'.
I don't see any negative comments here, because I believe those so called 'haters' have seen the committed performances of Guly in the last couple of matches, and would not condem a committed player for an error!
This was a fantastic Saints performance with the most organised defence you could hope to see, we deserved all three points. If any thing Guly's 'own goal' NOT did Boruc a favour, because without the touch the ball would still have been in the net with Boruc stranded on the other side of the goal. 'Oh no now I'm a Boruc hater!' I was glad to see Theo and AOC applause repeated at St. Mary's after a draw, and not just after a 6-1 thrashing at the Emirates.

COYS

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RedArmy1 says...
10:24am Wed 2 Jan 13

No-ones blaming Guly. The free kick was easy enough to deal with though and like Jos Hooiveld earlier in the Season sticking out a leg when the goalie and / or defence has it covered is never the answer.

It's not going smoothly for Guly at the moment including the open goal miss.

Nigel needs to look at this and take extra time with this Player.

He should get a run out in the Cup and he needs to take the pressure off himself and relax. The Crowd want him to succeed.

For a team like Arsenal - players like Gaston and Guly are suited.

The team Shrink may be able to help.

SAINTS are a good football Team. They have adapted to the Premier League. They cannot afford to throw away valuable points.

If a player (like Kelvin) becomes error prone - they must be axed.

The fans know the Team are giving it a really good go.

VILLA AWAY next in the League and we can get the WIN.

COYR.

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El Santo says...
10:49am Wed 2 Jan 13

saintmicky wrote:
Could it be that there were never any 'Guly haters' in the first place? Those who have been prepared critically analyse performances have been tarred as 'haters'.
I don't see any negative comments here, because I believe those so called 'haters' have seen the committed performances of Guly in the last couple of matches, and would not condem a committed player for an error!
This was a fantastic Saints performance with the most organised defence you could hope to see, we deserved all three points. If any thing Guly's 'own goal' NOT did Boruc a favour, because without the touch the ball would still have been in the net with Boruc stranded on the other side of the goal. 'Oh no now I'm a Boruc hater!' I was glad to see Theo and AOC applause repeated at St. Mary's after a draw, and not just after a 6-1 thrashing at the Emirates.

COYS
Good point. I was also thinking after that goal... is it possible that our defenders are a bit too on the edge because of Boruc? I think that ball should have been his, and Guly just tried to avoid the disaster... and actually caused it. I am full of praise for the entire team, but Boruc was clearly the weak link and I was nervous every time Arsenal had any danger (very few times by the way).

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SaintMax says...
11:20am Wed 2 Jan 13

Lets not forget to reiterate, we kept at bay a team that scored 5 against Reading, 7 against Newcastle, and 6 against us earlier in the season.
And we scored their goal for them!?
We can not underestimate just how good a team performance that was, and a good indication is the lack of WUMs and Poopey dlckeads on here today.
Agree completey with the Saintmicky too about Guly. I slated his apparent lack of commitment to the cause a couple of months back. Doesnt mean I hated him, just wanted to see that he cared!

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sarfhamton says...
3:19pm Wed 2 Jan 13

We chanted "when Guly scores, were on the pitch"!

Such a shame it was at the wrong end.

OLE OLE OLE GULY GULY

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Strasbourg Saint says...
11:47pm Wed 2 Jan 13

I think those who have booed Guly and those who single him out for selective criticism while never praising him when he does well can be branded as 'Guly haters'.

Take the selective attitude some have to THAT skate equaliser at their shed. Those who were quick to blame Guly for failing to get his head to the ball as the goal scorer headed it didn't think to mention that the player had a free header because Lallana was ball watching and lost his marker. It's THAT type of selectivity (along with the booing) rather than the balanced fair criticism which angers me.

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