IT'S a strange stage of the Championship season
- but for Saints it's an important one.
Everything feels a bit flat at this time of year.
You start the season with a rush of excitement and a flurry of games before things go a bit quieter.
Then you build up to Christmas and New Year and have a busy programme.
But then after that, things go very flat again. That's where we are now.
We are in a strange period where that supposedly-seasoning defining run of games has been and gone but we're not yet down to the run-in.
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It's easy with the lull kicking in to let performances slacken off a little on the field as fans try to sustain their own interest.
But for Saints, in particular, it's important that things not only don't wane but actually pick up a gear. Where you are when you reach
that run-in is all important if you want to finish in the top six.
Rasiak goes down
You simply cannot leave yourself too much to do.
You need to put yourself in the chasing pack so that when the home straight is in sight you give yourself a chance of putting your foot to floor and accelerating to where you want to be.
Saints are kind of holding their ground at the moment, treading water in the table.
They remain in that chasing pack but a little run of form now would put them right in contention for the end of the season top six race.
There is no doubt the players are working hard but things feel a little subdued.
Saints just seem as if they need a little spark from somewhere.
Maybe a battling win in adversity, an incredible victory nobody expects, a brilliant run of form from a flair player in the side or a high profile
loan signing.
It just needs something as a bit of a pick-me-up because, despite so many inconsistencies, Saints are still in with a shout of the top six.
By rights, they perhaps shouldn't be.
But they are and they need to take advantage of that.
At least five away games without defeat is a sign of some new resilience.
But just that little extra spark we speak of would have turned the four draws that have come in that run into perhaps two draws and two wins - thus yielding an extra four points.
Things were pretty tricky at Plymouth and there wasn't a lot of spark on show from either side.
It was an unremarkable game with a fair result. Saints just need a little extra spark to bring their season to life. They remain in the play-off hunt but must make sure they don’t drift away in the coming weeks.
Adam Leitch
The conditions were not conducive to flowing football with all the rain of the last week producing a heavy pitch.
The surface also cut up somewhat, making passing the ball a fairly risky business.
Bradley Wright-Phillips went close for Saints with an early header that he couldn't quite lob over the keeper, but he did give his side the
lead on 12 minutes.
There was a deliberate tactic from Saints to play high balls in behind with Wright-Phillips lurking on the shoulder of the last defender.
And it worked a treat when Alex Ostlund, playing his first league game since October, found him with such a ball down the right.
Wright-Phillips took it into his stride superbly and produced a terrific finish, dinking it past the advancing keeper Luke McCormick and into the far corner.
Saints rode their luck at times, Kelvin Davis making two good saves - the first from Lilian Nalis and the second from David Norris.
Only a Davis sve and a follow-up scramble off the line prevented Peter Halmosi before the break.
After Wright-Phillips threatened from another ball over the top, Plymouth equalised six minutes
into the second half.
Gary Sawyer fed Halmosi on the left who picked out Rory Fallon and his first-time side-footed finish flew past a few Saints legs and into
the net.
Saints might have had a penalty after an hour.
Grzegorz Rasiak's heavy control prevented him getting clean in on goal but McCormick still slid at his feet.
The striker went down and it might well have been a spot-kick, but referee Uriah Rennie decided it was a dive and produced a yellow
card.
Davis made two more good saves, first turning Halmosi's effort on to the post and then tipping the follow-up from Fallon round the other post.
The final stages were fairly mundane with both sides looking jaded, the conditions taking their
toll.
Wright-Phillips extended McCormick with a 20-yard effort, but it was honours even.
You just feel it needs one of those to fly in if Saints are to find that missing spark.
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