UNCONVINCING..

To Southampton, again, this time for the Capital One Cup 3rd round game between the Saints and Bristol City.   Now it`s always good to go back there and to St. Mary`s Stadium but last night`s visit had the added piquancy of also seeing our street`s local hero, Scott Wagstaff, now plying his profession as a pacy flanker for Bristol City, where he is getting regular football and settling in nicely to the club and the city itself.

As to the game, well, Saints emerged 2-0 winners in what the reports accurately describe as `unconvincing.`   OK, not one of the Saints players on view last night is likely to start Saturday`s Premier League game against Crystal Palace but that is not to detract from a spirited performance from Scott and his chums who, in truth, probably deserved more from the game.  Mercifully, we were spared extra time and penalties and as it was, it was past 1.00am before we arrived back home (my son did the driving and we also had the company of Scott`s dad.)

As you can see from the photo I took after the game ended, it was poorly attended (something like 9,000 including the visiting Robins fans in a stadium that holds 32,000) but the Saints fans trudging for the exits at least had the consolation of a passage to Round 4 of a competition that provides the winner with entry into the Europa League next season. On this showing, Saints have more chance of winning the Eurovision Song Contest.