Saints have Bolt-like momentum

Every time you have thought Saints were about to drop out of this season’s League One play-off race for good they have come back.

Every time you have thought a team above them was about to make it impossible, they have stumbled and opened the door again.

Saints have made sure that, while that door is not gaping, it is at least ajar. It would take a brave man to bet against them kicking it down now.

To Alan Pardew’s credit, his summary of the situation has been honest and fair throughout.

Whilst you could accuse some at Saints of trying to paint an overly optimistic picture at times, he has spoken what most people believe to be the truth.

He believes very strongly in the team he has assembled at St Mary’s but he is not somebody prone to wild flights of fantasy.

Saints are squeezing the pressure on the teams above them who are worried.

Scary It’s like leading the 100m Olympic final with 40 metres to go, looking over your shoulder and seeing Usain Bolt start to put his foot on the gas.

It’s scary. For the other sides in League One, Saints are scary.

They all acknowledge that Saints’ position is totally false for reasons we all know about.

They were just hoping that this one season they wouldn’t be a threat and give them a chance to take a play-off place.

Saints have other ideas.

There is though a long way to go still.

It’s getting to the stage where the constant stuttering and stumbling of the teams above Saints has drawn the confidence that if Saints can win all of their remaining games they will make the top six.

But it sounds incredibly flippant to say that – to win eight games in a row in any division is an incredible ask, no matter how good you are.

Forget even if you play well eight games in a row, just one piece of bad luck, a poor refereeing decision, a badly timed injury, the percentages say the fates will still conspire to stop you at some point.

However, this is sport and in sport everything is possible and that is why Saints are optimistic.

They face probably the toughest test of the remainder of the season tomorrow night.

Of course, we must prepare ourselves to hear that every game is a cup final now and one game at a time but it will be excusable for tomorrow night’s game at Bristol Rovers – if Saints can win it then it suddenly looks very much on.

And with the pressure of Usain Bolt breathing on your shoulder, who knows what the other competitors will do?

What’s good about Saints at the moment is how they are able to win different types of games, blowing teams away at times, fighting it out on other occasions.

They had to raise their game against Charlton at St Mary’s and did just that to win 1-0.

It was not a sparkling, vintage showing but it was everything that was necessary for three vital points.

Bold The backline was solid, Jose Fonte in particular exceptional once more, Kelvin Davis was strong when called into action, the midfield worked very hard and had a nice balance to it, the front two ran tirelessly even when things didn’t come off.

Playing Jason Puncheon off of Rickie Lambert was a bold move from Pardew. Something vaguely similar hadn’t really worked all that well at Brighton but the Saints boss has the courage to back himself and fair play for that.

On this occasion he got it spot on.

This was a game played out between two of the best teams in the division, both in terms of personnel and tactically as well.

It was an intriguing contest, if not always a thrilling one, partly because the two teams deliberately cancelled each other out and partly because referee Grant Hegley blew his whistle at every given opportunity for the most innocuous of incidents.

Davis had the first meaningful save to make, turning Nicky Bailey’s header over the bar before Puncheon and Dean Hammond had half chances.

Saints grabbed the lead on 34 minutes when Puncheon collected the ball on the right and laid a perfectly weighted pass into the path of the on running Michail Antonio.

He took one touch to get the ball under his control as he burst into the area and a second to lash it past the helpless Darren Randolph who had no chance as it flashed past him at his near post.

Block Despite the fact Saints were doing most of the pressing, Davis had two more first half saves to make to block Nicky Forster’s near post drive and another header from Bailey.

Saints almost got another goal just after the restart with Charlton slow to react to a short corner and Morgan Schneiderlin allowed the time to pick out Lambert’s near post run. His angled header was cleared off one post then the other.

Davis made another important save from Bailey but the longer the game went on the more comfortable Saints got, especially when Pardew stuck on the ever willing Lee Barnard and went 4-4-2.

Aside from a few late scrambles in the area, Saints saw it out without too many panics.

They are in danger of becoming that Usain Bolt figure now – he often looks like he could give the rest of the field a 30-metre head start and still win. Maybe Saints will do the footballing equivalent.