Late ko blow as Saints can't go the distance

For the third time in the last four league games they infuriatingly lost the lead in the closing stages just when the game looked won.

Move the clocks forward to the end of the season and how costly could that be

Those extra six points against Derby, Liverpool and now Wimbledon would have put them cosily in ninth spot.

Instead, with other results going against them, they are looking nervously over their shoulders at the relegation zone just two points behind them.

There is something about the weekend when British Summer Time ends. Saints have not lost when the clocks go back since 1994 and here they looked well on course for their first win in seven Premiership outings.

The game plan seemed to have worked perfectly. They survived the inevitable battering from Wimbledon's long-range artillery to draw the sting from the game.

Slowly they then began to assert themselves and took a 66th-minute lead with a beautifully executed goal as Marian Pahars netted for the fifth consecutive away game.

The drab and disappointing Dons threw up the big guns and increased their shelling of the Saints penalty area, going 4-2-4 in a score-or-bust onslaught.

But with such limited imagination in their play there was never any real sense that they were going to break through with Saints' defence and midfield pushing up with such dogged determination that the home side had to launch their aerial bombardment from distance.

They could not get round or through the Southampton ranks and so resorted to pumping high balls which were readily repelled by Dean Richards and Claus Lundekvam.

Those that did get over the top were calmly collected by the immaculate Paul Jones who held his nerve under intense physical pressure.

After the Derby disappointment and the Liverpool lapse, it seemed there was to be no Wimbledon wobble. The massed bank of Saints fans did not see this one coming at all.

The horrible irony was that the last-minute equaliser resulted from a clever, defence-splitting pass, far removed from the long-ball game which must be so tedious to watch week in week out.

Francis Benali backed off from Jason Euell who was given space to drive on and push the ball through for John Hartson.

He turned and cracked a powerful shot against the bar and Marcus Gayle was left free to ram home the loose ball for a heart-breaking equaliser.

In the cold light of day a draw was probably a fair - if sickening - result. After a stagnant start, broken only by an offside 'goal' for each side within minutes of each other, Egil Olsen's long-ball brigade suddenly upped the tempo.

For 15 frantic minutes Saints rode their luck. Gayle drilled against a post with Jones just getting a fingertip and then Hartson squandered a good chance by blazing high over.

Jones pulled off a great save from Robbie Earle and quickly topped it with a stunning stop from Hartson's flashing header which the keeper somehow clawed away almost as it went past his dive to his left.

Having weathered the storm in the driving rain, Saints regained a foothold in the game and should have taken the lead with a free header from Hassan Kachloul who glanced wide.

After the break though, Dave Jones's men gradually imposed their own game with the lively Stuart Ripley proving a useful outlet on the right.

Saints inched forward to defend higher up the field and began to play through the robust rearguard of Olsen's army who were taking no prisoners.

They dished out fearful punishment to Pahars who chased everything in his lone striker's role. He had scant quality service with the ball too often in the air, giving the little Latvian an unenviable task against the men-mountain at the back.

But, when he did get the ball to feet, the effect was instant and lethal. Jason Dodd knocked the ball up to Soltvedt who controlled on the right edge of the area.

As he went to turn, Ripley nipped in and slotted a slide-rule diagonal ball in past the flailing Ben Thatcher for Pahars to dart behind and steer home.

For once the offside flag stayed down - but it was up again three minutes later to deny Jason Euell. And at that point it looked as though it would be Southampton's day.

If anything, a second away goal seemed more likely. Although under the cosh, there was always a good chance of hitting the home side on the break as the Dons threw caution - and the ball - to the wind.

Even allowing for the fact that Saints these days have more problems holding on to a lead than the dunce of a Barbara Woodhouse class, there was no sense of panic or disarray.

They seemed to be playing out time relatively comfortably after getting the measure of the big men up front.

But, with Saints, it is never over until the proverbial fat lady has finished singing, had a gargle, got changed and phoned for a taxi.

And, for the second week running, they went home disappointed with a result they would probably have settled for before the game.

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.