SO IT WASN`T A DREAM AFTER ALL.......

I have delayed posting any comment about Southampton FC`s exploits last Saturday afternoon, as I wasn`t at all sure that I was awake or dreaming. So I decided to leave it for 72 hours to find out.

Turns out it was real after all - for the first time in their 133 years history as a professional football club, Saints went away from home and recorded a 6-0 victory over a team above them in the league - this time it was in-form Wolverhampton Wanderers. Now, scoring six goals away from home is a rare thing for Saints - last time was in 1977, I think, when it was achieved twice in the same season - away to Carlisle and, ironically enough, away to Wolves again.

Last Saturday afternoon, we had a family lunch, as my youngest son and two grandsons were visiting from their home in Germany and my eldest son (who was celebrating his 44th birthday) our daughter-in-law and two teenage grandaughters also visited to make it a family get-together. (The only one missing was middle son, who was `on tour` in Europe somewhere - more on that story later.)

All of which meant that I was unable to follow the fortunes of the Saints as closely as I would normally. However, a brief lull in family proceedings did make it possible for me to log on at about 5.00pm to find out the result, fully expecting Saints to have suffered a severe stuffing, especially as they were without no less than eight first-team `regulars.` When I saw the scoreline of 0-6, I seriously thought there had been a cruel typing error, but no - reports from other media confirmed it as being so, at which point I entered the twilight world between fantasy and reality from which I have only now emerged.

For the record, three of Saints goals were scored by Polish striker Marek Saganowski (pictured), with other goals coming from Leon Best, Andrew Surman and a tap-in own goal by Wolves `defender` Gary Breen. I once saw Breen playing for Maidstone United in the Jade Goody-sponsored Inadequate League, so his dismal defending really wasn`t too much of a surprise.

So, the events of last Saturday have confirmed yet again that there is a God - even one above and beyond Matthew Le Tissier - and Saints now march on to Luton Town this weekend, followed by a home fixture against high-flying Sunderland on Easter Monday (kick-off 5.15pm before a world-wide TV audience.) I will be there, of course, wondering only why Easter Monday has to fall on the same day as such an important fixture. (Sorry, God.)