A bit of a placeholder blog which I will update once back from holiday….

It’s a case of come on you yellows at St Marys this afternoon as we play in our specially overpriced 1976 commemorative kit in the FA Cup 4th Round against Leicester City. Hang on, wasn’t too long ago we played them in the league. I, like many other Saints fans I imagine, am still buzzing about that.

Leicester boss Andy King won’t be buzzing and he’s been making the right noises from his point of view about taking this game seriously. No shit Sherlock. He really doesn’t have a choice bearing in mind that he’s had three games in charge as interim manager and has lost the fucking lot. It’s almost the exact opposite of what Tonda did before landing the permanent job.

He’ll fancy is chances today however against what will surely be a second choice Saints side with somewhere between eight and eleven changes I would imagine. There are plenty who need a bit of game time and a few more the desperately need a rest. I would be a little bit disappointed if I see any of Ross Stewart, Casper Jander, Tom Fellows or Leo Scoenza, to name but four. There was talk from Tonda in his press conference of both Jack Stephens and Wellington being given a rest as well.

Sadly, the the way the game has gone since 1992 has seen the FA Cup diminish any importance for virtually every club but especially for clubs in with a chance of promotion to the Premier League and clubs frightened of falling out of it. After the last few results, Saints are definitely in the first category and even people of my age, who grew up knowing the FA Cup as the most important club competition in the world, can’t see the logic of risking players in the competition these days. That said, the FA Cup in 1976 was our only major trophy win and last season, Crystal Palace won the FA Cup and it was the first major trophy win in their history and it mattered.

In the event, Tonda completely decides to rest every single player who could possibly need any sort of rest with the six mentioned above nowhere near the game, along with the likes of Flynn Downes, THB and Shea Charles. There are starts for George Long in goal, the recently unused Elias Jelert, Josh Q, Nathan Wood, Oriol Romeu and Cam Bragg and there’s another chance for Cam Archer to try and show that he’s capable of anything. Big Cyle is also given a start, supported on the wings by Matsuki and Edozie. Captain for the day is Ryan Manning. Will he be more Captain Manning or Captain Mainwaring? That’s a reference that would be lost on anyone under the age of 50.

The bench is in full crèche mode, with the core of it being under 21s that Tonda started the season managing.

Leicester have a few more of their regular team playing so look the better side in the opening 20 minutes or so. In reality though, there is not much going on and when it does, it’s Leicester who show first with Ayew putting Mavis’s away and he cuts in from the left before trying a shot from a narrow angle which Long blocks but he blocks it straight onto Romeu as he slides into try and block the initial effort. From
there looks like it’s looping over the top of the keeper but Captain Manwairing gets back and heads it up off the bar and away and somehow, we get away with it without the referees watch bleeping

We make the most of our escape when on the stroke of half-time, Sam Edozie manages to win a tackle on the edge of the Leicester penalty area as they try and play out and then runs towards the line before being unceremoniously carted over by an absolute donkey challenge by Okoli. Clearest penalty you’ve ever seen. Canada Cyle is on this and calmly rolls it to the goalkeepers right and into the corner. Perfectly placed and the bonus of a 1-0 lead at half-time.

As the second half begins, Leicester are again edging it in terms of possession but they are not really creating much until out of the blue, a shot is blocked by big Cyle, bounces down onto the ground and Oliver Skipp shows tekkers not assumed to be in his locker by pulling out an overhead kick which flies into the near bottom corner, with George Long not being the only one taking completely by surprise. Shit.

Saints best chance to win it in normal time comes when following a flowing move up the left, Kuryu Matsuki strikes from range at Leicester keeper Stolarczyk, who has to have been really shit recently because he’s lost his place Asmir Begovic and his advancing years, and Stolarczyk fumbles the ball into the path of Cameron Archer with an open goal and he redeemed himself by smashing into the net… Oh no he fucking doesn’t. Wide it goes, possibly off the foot of a defender.

Leicester look the only team likely to win it after the 90 minutes and there was a double clearance within the 6 yard box from Josh Q needed to send us into extra time.

Extra time and nothing much going on, from either side, with penalties seeming like a likely outcome. Enter the last 10 and we win a free kick about 30 yards out on the left which Captain Mainwaring swings in and Daka flicks it on and there was Jimmy Bree at the back post to head into the roof of the net at the near post. Get in.

Through into the next round we go and though it wasn’t the best of games, it’s brilliant for all those youngsters to be playing for a team that gets a result against what is basically Leicester‘s first team by the end. It’s absolutely hilarious that our team was basically transformed into a team of kids and their’s got more experienced as the game went on, the more desperate Andy King got and we still beat them. They love talking about nine while we’ve scored nine against them across the three games this season.

It was nice to see Cyle Larin step up and roll his penalty into the corner which of course was one by a decent tackle and run by Sam Edozie, which was brought to an end by an absolute cart horse challenge by Leicester‘s £25 million Centre back Okoli, who missed the ball by as far as you could miss it but claimed to the referee that he had got a touch. Who are you trying to fucking kid mate?

The equaliser was one of those ones where the opportunity presents itself through a bit of luck, as the bouncing ball off the block by Cyle, left Skipp with one option but to be fair, you have to hold your hands up if someone scores with an overhead kick so fair play. He cost about £25 million as well.

The winning goal kind of illustrated the disjointed nature of the game with a free kick into the box by Captain Manning, being superbly flicked on by Patson Daka for Jimmy Bree to head past Stolarczyk for the winner. I’ve used this joke before, but I’ll use it again James Bree making the best comeback since his hairline.

There’s a hell of a lot to be got out of this game for the youngsters who made an appearance today, in the they helped close out again against the side with quite a few Premier League players and regardless of their current state, will have been the best players tha these young lads have ever played against. This is the new value of the FA Cup these days, to give your youngsters some experience and if they win the game and go onto the next round, it’s only fair they get given another go in whatever the fifth round game is. That will be drawn on Monday night, we will no doubt get a Premier League club away from home and that will be the end of that but the experience for the likes of Cam Bragg, Joe O’Brien Whitmarsh, Nick Oyekunle, Barnaby Williams and Sufiane Sillah Dibaga, will stand them in good state for the rest of their careers.

Next up is a reunion at home with the Greatest Living Welshman From a Mining Village. Charlton recently beat his former club Stoke and he was an insufferable bellend at the end. We cannot allow that to happen again.