The stats say it all and i have been saying the same things all season.

A look at the match stats show that Saints had 9 shots on target compared to Rochdales 4, 9 shots off target again only 4 for Rochdale and that we enjoyed 55% possession, so how did we lose it ?

The answer is the same reason why we lost at carlisle & Tranmere to name but two, the same individuals made the same errors that they have been making all season.

Some people accusse me of having an agenda against Dan Harding, but I have only one agenda and that is he is a player who continues to make errors that have cost us far too many ponts and ultimately might ciost us promotion.

Saints had settled down into the game and seemed to have drawn the sting out of early Rochdale bluster, indeed Fon Williams in the home goal had made two decent saves one from a Lambert free kick when Saints paid the price for some appalling defending from Harding, an inncocuos cross to the far post looked a simple job for Harding to deal with, I dont know what he was thinking but he appeared to be trying to block off Thompson rather than deal with the ball, in the end the rochdale man had a free header which he deftly looped into the far corner, no blame can be attached to Davis, who quite rightly had expected his defender to deal with it.

Now we all make mistakes, but Im afraid Harding makes this type of error far too often and I said many months ago, if this thing continues to happen and the manager does not deal with it then the buck stops at Adkins door, im afraid that once again I am left here saying the same things about the same player, dont blame me for saying so, blame the people who are making these errors, both physical and judgemental.

Now i have to confess i didnt see the second goal, due to horrendous traffic on the M6 added to a need for the RAC, we arrived just after kick off not having had anything to eat and drink, just before the break i ventured down to beat the queues, so as of this moment I can only quote the opinions of those who did see it and arrived in the concourse later, some of the accounts varied slightly, but most seemed to think that Harding was brushed off the ball far too easily although most thought he was fouled and the majority seemed to think that Davis should have saved the shot, the general consensus though that it was poor defending again from Saints, we will see when the highlights are shown, but on this goal I can only report what I was told.

In the second half Saints did press Rochdale back for most of the 45 minutes and when you consider that probably three of their shots on target where in the first half  and the same for us, it shows our dominance going forward, however they were very dangerous on the break and more than once only some good defending stopped the score being worse.

You could see it was going to be one of those nights when nothing was going to go right, we were disjoined all over the pitch, if one had gone in it would have rocked Dale, but we had to ge tthat one and we didnt.

Once again im afraid poor defending and individual error has cost us valuable points in s season when we really should be home and dry by now, of course all teams lose games, but I cannot remember a season when we have conceded to many sloppy goals, I can barely remember one that has been a great goal and where we could do nothing to stop it.

Perhaps the last word should go to a guy who came up to me on the concourse at half time,

"Lets be straight about this Nick, when you and i where kids this was division 3 and if someone had ever said to us at any time,  even 5 years ago that we would be 2-0 down at half time in division 3 to Rochdale we would have laughed in their faces, lets get this right this isnt a great season, this is our second worst season in 50 years with some of the worst players regularly in our team ever to have pulled on a Saints shirt in our lifetimes"

Harsh words, but he does have a point !      

Photo: Action Images

Spot51 added 10:51 - Apr 13 I caught some of the Adkin's interview on Solent and he suggested Harding was withdrawn due to injury, not cos he was shite. Whatever, if he doesn't play again this season I'll not be losing any sleep.
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HDH added 10:53 - Apr 13 A bit harsh with some of your criticism. It was an entertaining, open game, played by two sides who get the ball down, and want to play. Saints couldn't boss the midfield, and too many times, Dale were capable of breaking up Saints play, closed them down and preventing any meaningful attacking play. Saints were ultimately confined to shots from distance, which Owain fon Williams dealt with competently, though some of the efforts from Saints were a bit 'tired' in their execution. Lallana's shot that hit the foot of the post, was deflected twice before it reached the post, otherwise it was likely to be nearer the corner flag than the goal. Chris O'Grady scored a goal that was almost identical to the one he scored at St. Mary's earlier in the season. The goalkeeper went down in 'instalments', and the ball was in the net before he hit the deck. Poor timing and judgement, for a shot that was too hard and too quick for him to deal with. Let's not forget that Huddersfield were tonked 3-0 at Spotland, Brighton have been held to a 2-2 draw in both games, and Dale have put 4 past the Saints without reply. Whether you class this as division 3 football is largely irrelevant. You need to win games to get anywhere, at any level. Don't get taken in by this nonsense about losing to 'little old Rochdale'. Dale are where they are on merit. Just like Saints. No doubt in my mind that Saints will join Brighton next season in the Championship. I wish you well.

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ThreeLions added 11:27 - Apr 13 Well said HDH. when will supporters of these so called 'big' clubs recognise the flowing football we try to play
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steve73 added 11:45 - Apr 13 "Time For Everyone To Unite Behind Saints !" "Now we all make mistakes, but Im afraid Harding makes this type of error far too often and I said many months ago, if this thing continues to happen and the manager does not deal with it then the buck stops at Adkins door, im afraid that once again I am left here saying the same things about the same player, dont blame me for saying so, blame the people who are making these errors, both physical and judgemental." Indeed.

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dannyuk added 12:02 - Apr 13 " I can barely remember one that has been a great goal and where we could do nothing to stop it." Gary Jones?
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hortonsaint added 12:18 - Apr 13 Did we used to complain when little old Southampton beat Utd/Liverpool etc depite hugely inferior resources? Yes it may be galling but Dale were a decent side however I'm sure if we'd got one back we'd have at least drawn the game. No point complaining about errors now (yes Kelvin should have saved the second Nick ,it appeared to go thorugh him but O'Grady was in miles of space in the LB area-Harding limped off immediately and although I don't know where he was it suggested he couldn't get back) we've go to concentrate on winning the 5 games we need to to secure promotion and then hold an inquest post season if we don't do it. The comment you quoted is typical of the knee jerk reaction to defeats that many of us have.

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bstokesaint added 12:27 - Apr 13 I was fuming with the result last night. Have we beaten any team away who play in Walsall or further north (with the exception of Oldham who got an uncharacteristic ar5e kicking)?! Maybe we just can't handle travelling on the M6.. Anyway, let's get over it and move on. We're still 2nd and with a game in hand. We know as Saints' fans we'll never do things the easy way. As long as we go into that last game against Walsall in 2nd place we can finish this job off. It's not been a great season, but I believe we have the resources and ability to push on, that other teams do not. On the note about the 3rd division I think that is a bit harsh. I've seen some good quality opposition in the league this year, and I don't remember when I used to watch Reading many years ago at Elm Park the standard being as good as some of the games I've witnessed this season.

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SaintNick added 14:10 - Apr 13 Respect to Rochdale who battled hard for their win and deserved it, but I stand by my comments, its the same suspects all season who have been making the same errors, what am i supposed to say about the game, I try to tell it like it is
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ThereIn76 added 15:01 - Apr 13 Imagine if we finish 3rd and Dale 6th - the thought of playing a team in the play-offs that's beaten us 2-0 home and away is not a pleasant one. Hope that will scare the players and management into ensuring that we stay 2nd!
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splurty added 18:09 - Apr 13 You are dead right about Harding ! ie p155 poor away from home when under pressure .Dickson is a good left back but poor midfielder so keep dicko at left back and problem solved ,the only really poor players for saints last night were Stephens , Harding and Gully but that's enough when up against a fully committed /well drilled outfit on their own turf ,this was always going to be the trickiest game left bar the seaweeds so don't stress 3 points on sat and we will be off again .Also like to add the meat and potato pie was divine and the locals charming ,now you don't get that in the premiership !! Love the saints

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rjh added 18:18 - Apr 13 I agree with splurty, in terms of the ground and hospitality I was very impressed with the set up at Rochdale, one of my best league one away days just same lads didn't come good.
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LostBoys added 19:29 - Apr 13 I thought both Harding and Davis were both at fault for the goals.
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1teeminants added 21:29 - Apr 13 Dickson a poor midfielder ???? thats the funniest thing ive read in years. He was OUTSTANDING IN MIDFIELD AGAINSt ORIENT. Did you not go ? Why do people say such daft things,
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