Some things will never change.  Or so it seems for us Saints fans.  Yesterday was a case in point - 1-0 up eight minutes in to time added on in the home game against Brighton and a late, late, totally avoidable goal conceded to snatch just one point from a probable three. It really did feel like a game lost rather than drawn but it confirmed a telling statistic - that in Ralph Hasenhuttl`s three years as Southampton manager, the Saints have conceded 71 points from winning positions.  

We now sit in 16th place in the Premier League with Arsenal away next week which we will have to face without a fit and proper goalkeeper and a litany of other injuries and suspensions.   The natives are restless - calls for the manager`s head after this latest succession of tactical mishaps and curious decisions.

And yet we like Ralph - a decent guy and the longest serving manager since the club has been in the Premier League.  At his press conference the other day he was asked how he felt after three years at the helm and he replied that he and his wife were very happy in the beautiful south, he enjoyed working for Southampton FC and he was struck by the respect he is given in and around the city.  Seemed happy enough....but patience seems to be wearing a bit thin for the more vociferous among the fan base.

But that same vocal minority of `supporters` might do well to remember the reality of Southampton`s situation.  `Owned` by an absent Chinese businessman, strapped for cash, always with an eye to survival in the Premier League rather than challenging for anything higher but with a manager who has kept the club in the League for the three seasons he has been here.  No small achievement.  In my 70+ years of following the Saints it is as ever was.  OK, there have been the odd successes but for most of those years the default condition of fans has largely been one of accepting of our fate along with a healthy dose of confusion and bewilderment.  But we keep the faith and keep going. That`s just the way it is.  Somethings will never change.  That`s just the way it is - you`d better believe me.

So much for this weekend`s Saints ramble.  Elsewhere, a number of non-events saw Maidstone, Gillingham, Fort William (waterlogged pitch at Keith), Brechin City (waterlogged pitch at Darvel) and Stoke Gabriel`s games all called off or postponed, leaving only Truro City and Vale of Leithen to have played among my `other` teams....and Truro went down 3-1 away at Chesham and Vale lost 5-0 to Stirling University, leaving their goal difference standing at minus 108.  That`s just the way it is;  some things will never change.