Rickie, Rickie, Rickie – West Brom vs Soton

Rickie Lambert’s injury time penalty gave Southampton a priceless opening day victory against a disappointing West Bromwich Albion side.

Lambert scores the winner against West Brom. Credit: @SouthamptonFC

If Carlsberg did months then they’d surely resemble something similar to the one that Southampton’s No.7 has been having. Thursday 8^th August saw him gain not just his first ever call up to the England squad, but a new addition to his family as well. Fast forward six days and baby Bella would have seen her dad power in a header with his very first touch as an international footballer.

However, while the Premier League could never be accused of shying away from a fairytale, it has, in the past, been just as happy bringing a player on cloud nine back down to earth with a thud. A challenging away trip to the Hawthorns would be more than happy to oblige, with Southampton having one of the worst opening day records of any team in the league, averaging just 0.64 points per game.

Despite this, the Saints started brightly, with Baggies ‘keeper Ben Foster forced into a good save from a James Ward-Prowse 25-yarder, and a Martin Olsson foul causing a frantic scramble from the resulting free-kick. Come the 34^th minute and Southampton could consider themselves very unlucky not to have been awarded a goal. Adam Lallana saw his effort from a few yards out disallowed for offside, perhaps because of the involvement of the lingering Jay Rodriguez, when it really should have stood.

The second half started in much the same way that the first ended, with Rodriguez cracking a shot against the crossbar from inside the box, although referee Kevin Friend had already blown his whistle for a foul in the build-up. Despite Southampton’s dominance, West Brom did have their fair share of chances in the second half, among which was a cheeky flick from six yards-out by Shane Long, and a blocked James Morrison shot from a similar distance.

You always have to believe you are going to win, through to the last whistle, and because of that I want to congratulate my team.”

Mauricio Pochettino, Southampton Manager

As the game drew to a close, and the almost anonymous Nicolas Anelka was withdrawn, Luke Shaw made a run into the box and was brought down by the outstretched leg of Youssouf Mulumbu. Up stepped Lambert to smash the ball down to Foster’s right-hand side and grab the points for an elated Saints side.

Writer’s Comment: It just had to be didn’t it? In all honesty Lambert didn’t really do that much before the goal but as all good strikers do, he took his chance when it came. On the performance as a whole, there was much encouragement to be had for Saints fans. They looked sharp all game, out passing and outplaying their lacklustre opponents. A little bit more of a cutting edge up front would have been good, but there can be few complaints. As for West Brom, I noticed that a few people had them down as relegation candidates. Despite originally finding this puzzling, if performances continue in this vain then it could be a long and hard season for them ahead.

Man Of The Match: Dejan Lovren – The big Croatian looked impressive on his debut, making a number of well timed tackles and dealing with all the home side had to throw at him.