IN A week where Saints' strikers and Championship referees have been in the spotlight, one certainly came out of this game with a lot more credit then the other.

They always say you know a good referee because you hardly notice he's there.

Well, if that's the case, Nigel Miller may as well have worn an luminous tabard, had a traffic cone on his head and gone round singing the theme from the A-team at the top of his voice.

Words almost fail me when I try and describe just how bad a job he made of this game.

Like many people who play football, you can appreciate what a hard task being a referee is.

And it's a thankless one.

A lack of respect for referees had led to a drying up of young talent coming through the system and has left local league football struggling to find refs for every game.

For that reason ref bashing is not big or clever and something I normally steer clear of.

But Mr Miller. What can you say?

Well, he got there on time. His kit looked very smart. His whistle worked - though the pea is probably worn out. His cards were shiny and we certainly saw plenty of them.

To be fair, it wasn't all his fault. His assistants were equally to blame for the mess this game ended up in, but he is the guy in charge.

The match was a slightly niggly affair, that much can be said in his defence.

The first half highlights consisted of one chance when Kamil Kosowski crossed for Matt Oakley to hit a shot straight at the keeper and a Khalilou Fadiga free-kick that was headed over by Claus Lundekvam.

The second started serenely enough. Dennis Wise hit the post from a free-kick and just before the hour mark Saints took the lead.

Great work from Ricardo Fuller, who really is starting to looking fitter and sharper, picked out Brett Ormerod who side-stepped a defender and produced a cool finish.

From then on Saints were cruising.

Michael Johnson missed a chance for Derby and Lee Camp saved well from Fuller, but it seemed as if Saints would win at a canter.

But then we hadn't reckoned on Mr Miller, our whistle-happy chappy in the green top.

With under 15 minutes to go he awarded a penalty to Derby for a handball by ex-Ram Danny Higginbotham.

Some referees will give it, some wouldn't have. But that wasn't really the bad part.

Inigo Idiakez stepped up to take it and checked his run-up, effectively stopping a foot away from the ball. The idea of this is to see which way the keeper is diving and then put it the other way.

It is supposed to be against the rules, but players are often allowed to get away with it as referees don't know whether they merely checked or actually stopped entirely.

Anyway, Idiakez did this, Antti Niemi dived left and a little forward and saved it.

Play continued until Mr Miller spotted a flag up from his helpful, sorry hapless, assistant.

Apparently as Niemi was off his line it didn't matter that Idiakez had checked his run and so the penalty had to be retaken. Idiakez scored.

There followed protests and a mass booking spree where it seemed anybody who hadn't been booked already, was.

Harry Redknapp was also sent from the touchline after arguing with the fourth official he later described as 'a silly little man.' To make matters worse, Derby scored again on 85 minutes. Saints again felt aggrieved as they believed Idiakez had been moving the ball some distance away from where free-kicks were awarded to give himself a better angle to deliver a cross.

This appeared to be no exception, only this time Andrew Davies headed home.

However, not even Mr Miller can excuse the marking that has seen yet another goal conceded from a set piece.

It was inevitable that a player would be sent off and that man was Tomasz Hajto.

But he can have no complaints. In fact, it was one of the few things Miller got right.

Thankfully, in injury time, some justice was done. Niemi's long kick upfield was chased by Wise, whose challenge on the keeper - which some refs would have given as a foul - saw the ball drop to Fuller who produced a brilliant first-time finish to lob into the empty net from 30 yards.

It would be easy to feel sorry for Mr Miller if he'd made an innocent mistake. But on this occasion it just seemed he wanted to get noticed. Well, he did that alright.