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THE DAILY ECHO
SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2009
Saints spotlight
A consolidating year AUGUST 20 Rotherham United (A) L 24 Chesterfield (A) W (Sydenham, O’Brien, Reeves, Paine) 27 Portsmouth (H) W (Huxford, O’Brien, Paine, Mulgrew, Dickinson) 31 Liverpool (A) W (O’Brien) SEPTEMBER 3 Leeds United (H) (Reeves, Paine) 7 Derby County (H) (O’Brien 2, Clifton 2, Paine) 10 Middlesbrough (A) 14 Derby County (A) (Paine, Clifton) 17 Brighton & HA (H) (O’Brien 4) 24 Ipswich Town (A) (Paine 2, Mulgrew) OCTOBER 1 Scunthorpe United (H) (Paine, Gibson (og), Brownsword Page) 8 Huddersfield Town (A) (Penk) 15 Sunderland (H) (Reeves, O’Brien, Mulgrew) 22 Plymouth Argyle (A) (Paine, Sydenham, O’Brien) 29 Norwich City (H) (Reeves, O’Brien) NOVEMBER 5 Charlton Athletic (A) (Mulgrew 2, Reeves) 12 Sheffield United (H) 19 Stoke City (A) (O’Brien, Page) 26 Swansea Town (H) (Mulgrew 2, Paine 2, Sydenham) DECEMBER 3 Luton Town (A) (O’Brien) 10 Lincoln City (H) (Mulgrew, Page) 17 Rotherham United (H) (Mulgrew, Paine, O’Brien) 26 Bristol Rovers (H) (O’Brien, Reeves 2, Page) 31 Portsmouth (A) (Mulgrew) JANUARY 14 Leeds United (A) 21 Middlesbrough (H) (Paine, Reeves, Penk) FEBRUARY 4 Brighton & Hove Albion (A) (Mulgrew) 11 Ipswich Town (H) (O’Brien) 18 Scunthorpe United (A) 25 Huddersfield Town (H) (O’Brien 2, Reeves, Paine) MARCH 11 Plymouth Argyle (H) (Mulgrew) 18 Lincoln City (A) (O’Brien 2, Paine) 20 Bristol Rovers (A) (O’Brien, Paine) 25 Charlton Athletic (H) (Paine) 29 Leyton Orient (A) (Mulgrew) APRIL 1 Swansea Town (A) (Penk) 3 Leyton Orient (H) (Traynor) 8 Stoke City (H) 15 Sheffield United (A) (Maughan) 17 Sunderland (A) (Clifton) 22 Luton Town (H) (Clifton, Paine, Reeves) 29 Norwich City (A)
0-1 4-1 5-1 1-0
L 2-4 W 5-1 L 0-5 D 2-2 W 4-2 D 3-3
W 4-2 (og), L 1-3 W 3-2 W 3-1 D 2-2
W 3-1 L 0-1 W 2-1 W 5-0
L 1-4 L 2-3
SAINTS finished eighth in their first season back in the old second division in 1960/61 after winning the third tier title the previous campaign.
PROLIFIC: George O’Brien struck 22 times for Saints in their first season back in the second tier.
That wasn’t a bad effort at all, but it could have been so much better had they not lost seven and won just one of their last 10 matches. Ted Bates’ men won four of their first six games including a 4-1 demolition job on Liverpool and a 5-1 thrashing of Portsmouth in the first south coast derby between the clubs since 1927. Though Saints went through the season having few problems in scoring goals, they also let them in regularly – ending up conceding 10 more goals than Huddersfield, who finished third from bottom. After beating Plymouth 3-0 in late October, Saints were fourth and eyeing a second successive promotion. But that had to wait for five more years. George O’Brien was Saints’ top league scorer with 22 goals while Terry Paine, an ever present in the side, netted 18. Next week: Focus on the 1961/62 season.
HOW THEY FINISHED 1960/61 Division 1 P W D Tottenham 42 31 4 Sheffield Wed 42 23 12 Wolves 42 25 7 Burnley 42 22 7 Everton 42 22 6 Leicester City 42 18 9 Manchester United 42 18 9 Blackburn Rovers 42 15 13 Aston Villa 42 17 9 WBA 42 18 5 Arsenal 42 15 11 Chelsea 42 15 7 Manchester City 42 13 11 Nottingham Forest 42 14 0 Cardiff 42 13 11 West Ham 42 13 10 Fulham 42 14 8 Bolton 42 12 11 Birmingham 42 14 6 Blackpool 42 12 9 Newcastle Preston
Bury Walsall
Division P W 42 26 42 26
2 D L F A Pts Ipswich 7 9 100 55 Sheffield United 59 6 10 81 51 58 Liverpool 42 21 10 11 87 58 Norwich 52 42 2- 0 13 Middlesbrough 70 53 49 42 18 12 12 Sunderland 83 74 48 42 17 13 12 Swansea 75 60 47 42 18 11 13 SAINTS 77 73 47 42 18 8 16 Scunthorpe 84 81 44 42 14 15 13 Charlton 69 64 43 42 16 11 15 Plymouth 97 91 43 42 17 8 17 Derby 81 82 42 42 15 10 17 Luton 80 80 40 42 15 9 18 71 Leeds 79 39 42 14 10 18 Rotherham 75 83 38 42 12 13 17 Brighton 65 64 37 42 14 9 19 Bristol Rovers 61 75 37 42 15 7 20 Stoke 73 92 37 42 12 12 18 Leyton Orient 51 59 36 42 14 8 20 Huddersfield 55 78 36 42 13 9 20 62 71 35 Portsmouth 42 11 11 20 Lincoln 64 91 33 42 8 8 26 48 95 24
W 3-2 W 4-2 D 1-1 L 0-3 W 3-2
W 1-0 D 1-1 L 0-2 W 4-2
D 1-1 W 3-0
L 7 7 10 13 14 15 15 14 16 19 16 20 18 10 18 19 20 19 22 21
F A 115 55 78 47 103 75 102 77 87 69 87 70 88 76 77 76 78 77 67 71 77 85 98 100 79 90 62 78 60 85 77 88 72 95 58 73 62 84 68 73
Pts 66 58 57 51 50 45 45 43 43 41 41 37 37 37 37 36 36 35 34 33
42 11 10 21 86 109 32 42 10 10 22 43 71 30 Division P W 46 30 46 28
3 D L F A Pts 8 8 108 45 68 6 12 98 60 62
QPR Watford Notts County Grimsby Port Vale Barnsley Halifax Shrewsbury Hull Torquay Newport Bristol City Coventry Swindon Brentford Reading Bournemouth Southend
46 46 46 46 46 46 46 46 46 46 46 46 46 46 46 46 46 46
25 20 21 20 17 21 16 15 17 14 17 17 16 14 13 14 15 14
60 72 77 69 79 80 78 75 73 83 90 68 83 55 70 83 76 76
60 52 51 50 49 49 49 46 46 45 45 44 44 43 43 40 40 39
Tranmere Bradford Colchester Chesterfield
46 46 46 46
15 8 23 79 115 11 14 21 65 87 11 11 24 68 101 10 12 24 67 87
38 36 33 32
Division 4 P W D L F A Peterborough 46 28 10 8 134 65 Crystal Palace 46 29 6 11 110 69 Northampton 46 25 10 11 90 62 Bradford Park Ave 46 26 8 12 84 74
Pts 66 64 60 60
York City Millwall Darlington Workington Crewe Aldershot Doncaster Oldham Stockport Southport Gillingham Wrexham Rochdale Accrington Carlisle Mansfield Exeter Barrow Hartlepool Chester
46 46 46 46 46 46 46 46 46 46 46 46 46 46 46 46 46 46 46 46
21 21 18 21 20 18 19 19 18 19 15 17 17 16 13 16 14 13 12 11
10 12 9 10 15 7 17 16 12 17 11 10 12 15 17 12 10 11
9 8 13 7 9 9 7 7 9 6 13 8 8 8 13 6 10 11 8 9
11 14 16 16 14 18 13 15 17 15 18 19 18 17 16 20 21 21
16 17 15 18 17 19 20 20 19 21 18 21 21 22 20 24 22 22 26 26
93 85 82 77 96 83 71 83 73 75 81 70 80 62 56 72 58 60
80 60 97 86 78 70 74 76 61 67 79 69 76 78 79 88 57 66 69 67 64 66 62 56 60 66 74 88 61 79 71 78 66 94 52 79 71 103 61 104
51 50 49 49 49 45 45 45 45 44 43 42 42 40 39 38 38 37 32 31
L 2-4 L 1-2 D 1-1
L 1-4 D 1-1 L 0-1 L 1-2 L 1-3 W 3-2 L 0-5
ROLL CALL: Gordon Brown 3, Bob Charles 2, Brian Clifton 26 (5 goals), Dick Conner 33, Ron Davies 41, Tony Godfrey 8, Tony Heaney 1, Cliff Huxford 34 (1 goal), Hugh Lindsay 2, Wesley Maughan 2 (1 goal), Tommy Mulgrew 36 (13 goals), George O’Brien 41 (22 goals), John Page 40 (4 goals), Terry Paine 42 (18 goals), Harry Penk 20 (3 goals), Derek Reeves 35 (10 goals), Ron Reynolds 32, Dave Scurr 1, Terry Simpson 2, Tommy Traynor 39 (1 goal).
Thomas: Time to get physical WAYNE Thomas says Saints need to learn how to “mix it up” in order to compete against the physical nature of sides in League One. The former Burnley player has proved integral in Saints’ impressive start to the season, forming an solid partnership with Chris Perry at the heart of defence. But the brutish centre back has yet to train properly with new £1 million signing Rickie Lambert for fear of possibly being too physical. “The gaffer has kept me away from him in training, so I don’t know what he’s trying to say there,” joked Thomas. “I’ve not seen too much of him in training but I’m sure in the coming weeks I’ll be up against him and I’ll just take it very easily.” The fit-again centre back was full of praise of the former Bristol Rovers
By Simon Peach echosport@dailyecho.co.uk For up-to-the-minute news and sport – dailyecho.co.uk
striker, especially after scoring on his debut in the 2-0 Carling Cup victory against Northampton. “Rickie comes in with a good reputation and the last thing you want is to wait for him to score goals,” he said. “But he’s scored on his debut, which is unbelievable for him. It’ll fill him and the team with confidence and, hopefully, he’ll go and replicate the 29 goals he got for Bristol Rovers.” Saints were at Huddersfield this weekend and Thomas believes Saints will have needed to match the physical endeavour they showed against Millwall in their league curtain raiser
to stand a chance of winning. “It was 100 miles an hour, a very physical sort of welcome to League One,” said the man who won promotion from the third tier via the play-offs with Stoke City in 2001/02. “A lot of the games will be like that and the lads need to show a physical resilience to the physical side of teams and their organisation as well as playing pretty football. “As we saw last season, good football doesn’t always get three points. It doesn’t always guarantee success, which is why we’re in League One now. The lads have got to learn to mix it up and give a bit back as well as playing nice football. “They’ve got to earn the right to play football and against Millwall showed we can do that. Now we’ve got to show we can do that on away grounds.”
WAYNE THOMAS