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Andrew Davies

IF SAINTS were looking for something, some kind of momentum to turn their season around, they may just have found it at the Britannia Stadium.

You would have been hard pressed to believe that would be the case at half-time.

It can be hard to take much out of another defeat.

The bottom line is another defeat and now the team are just six ahead of the drop zone.

But at least when it seemed all was lost last night, Saints showed there is still a bit of fight, a bit of life left in them yet.

Having trailed 3-0 at the break, most people would have quite happily packed up and gone home.

The scoreline made it look a foregone conclusion and, despite some nice football from Saints, you couldn't see it being any other way.

But just a little spark, a very early second half goal, and things turned around.

Stern John

Suddenly Saints were rampant in a way we haven't really seen this season.

The players, clearly fuelled by a certain amount of rage over Stoke's physical approach and some lenient refereeing, were desperate to make a point.

And they did.

There was passion, heart and commitment.

You could argue that it's easy to show all that when you're behind and away from home; it's much harder in front of your fans and from the start.

But at least now John Gorman and Jason Dodd have something to point to, a reference point for the players.

They can say that spell in the second half at Stoke is the type of intensity required to see them pick up some more points and end their miserable run of just one win in 11 league games.

Stoke played exactly as they were expected to.

They were strong, powerful, physical, aggressive. They tried to knock Saints out of their stride at every opportunity, whether it be from setpieces or gamesmanship.

In the first half Saints occasionally let it put them off,which is what is was designed to do. In the second period, they channelled their aggression and it fired them on.

The first half saw very few clear cut chances for either side, and it was no real surprise that Stoke's goals all came from set-pieces - in fact, they all came from Liam Lawrence corners.

It took 27 minutes - after Jhon Viafara had missed Saints' only real chance of the half - for the opener when the ball was delivered right into the danger zone.

Ryan Shawcross attacked it with plenty around him and somehow the ball broke loose to him a couple of yards out but with his back to goal.

Kelvin Davis got down to block the shot but, in a melee of players, Darren Powell could only divert his attempted clearance onto the inside of a post and into his own net.

Lawrence delivered a corner from the other side on 35 minutes and it was 2-0, this time Shawcross meeting it with a thumping header that took a deflection but was easily on target regardless.

After Ricardo Fuller and Lawrence both went close, Stoke appeared to have the game sealed a minute before the break.

Again it was Lawrence with the corner, again the Saints marking wasn't good enough and this time it was Mamady Sidibe who powered home a header.

But while many expected a walk in the park for Stoke in the second half, it was never that way from the very start.

Just 11 seconds after the re-start, Stern John flicked the ball over a defender, controlled on his chest and fired a speculative volley from 20 yards that flew past Steve Simonsen and into the far corner.

That sparked Saints into life and they chased the game with tremendous vigour.

Viafara went close again before John made it 3-2, this time finishing low past Simonsen after breaking the offside trap to collect Jermaine Wright's chipped ball.

Suddenly Saints were a team with belief. But during a 20-minute spell when they had Stoke on the ropes, shaken and struggling to get out of their own penalty area, they couldn't get another goal.

John twice went close while Andrew Surman's shot from distance deflected just wide.

But Stoke did get off the canvas and recover.

They got their shape back, their heads together and almost bagged another, Davis making good saves from Lawrence and Salif Diao.

It may have only been in a spell of the game, and it might not have proved enough, but at least Saints showed more of what they so desperately require.

It was just a pity they couldn't do it from the very first whistle.

2:46pm Wednesday 13th February 2008

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