Town boss Paul Jewell was delighted with his side’s point at Southampton, feeling his team responded well to a half-time tongue-lashing after a below-par first period.

Jewell said: “I was really desperate to get them in at half-time because I thought we were distinctly average in the first half and Alex McCarthy kept us in it with a couple of decent saves. I tore a strip off them at half-time and I think you saw the response in the second half.

“We started the game off OK. Southampton are a good team, they’re not top of the league for no reason, but I felt as if we were just sitting back a little bit and waiting for them to come at us, and we didn’t want to do that. I think we’re a far better team when we’re on the front foot.

“I got into them at half-time and I think in the second half, even though we went a goal behind, I thought we deserved it in the second half.”

The Blues boss says Jason Scotland deserved his goal: “It was a magnificent substitution!” he joked. “Jason Scotland’s been terrific for us and he’s been part of the squad and when he’s come on he’s worked hard and he’s works hard in training.

“He had a little bit of fortune with the deflection but I think Southampton had a little bit of fortunate on Saturday, so maybe we were due that.”

He says the Trinidadian’s lack of starts lately has nothing to do with three more leading to him triggering another year on his contract at his current wage: “Jason’s been unlucky. Obviously people talk about the contract situation, but it’s been nothing to do with that that, it’s because Chops has done well.

“I have to say Jason’s professionalism and his positive attitude around the place have been terrific and I’m really pleased for him. He’s a valuable member of our squad.”

Jewell says he expects the Saints to win promotion: “They were excellent at our place, they were 3-0 up at half-time. We got it back to 3-2 but we just couldn’t break them down. They’ve got some quality players and I think they’ll be in the Premier League next year.

“But we did show some battling qualities [today] and at times a bit of quality in the second half. In the dressing room after the game, even though we scored the equaliser, the lads are a little bit disappointed. Not that we haven’t won the game, but just with our performance in the first half, which tells me that we’re making progress because the squad’s standards are coming on as we grow together.

“We know there’s a long way to go this season, we know there’s a long summer ahead of us and we want to improve the squad to hopefully be somewhere near challenging next season.”

Despite that, he’s happy with his side’s current run: “One defeat in seven is obviously decent form. If you could take that for the rest of the season or over any given season you’d be somewhere close.

“We’ve got to do it over 46 games and when we’re not great we’ve got to get something out of the game.

“I think in the first half we definitely weren’t great, our keeper’s made two really good saves, we’ve defended for our lives at times and in the second half we restricted them to not to many chances and we were always a danger on the break.

“Kelvin Davis made a fantastic save from Chops that would have put us 1-0 up and who knows what would have happened. But, all in all, we’re pleased with a point.”

Photo: Action Images

staffordshireblue added 08:08 - Mar 7 Very pleased with a point last night, fully deserved. Next game I'm going to make is the home match against Posh, have to say I hope we spank them good and proper, definitely fancy at least a point this saturday. COYB's!!
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michaeldownunder added 08:12 - Mar 7 Cannot agree with those who say we should not get into the playoffs and go up. There are loads of teams hanging around mid/lower in the table, that were close to going up and never made it. I don't think any team can be "ready" for the prem league Let's just enjoy winning a few games and see what happends
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DiamondGezzer added 08:15 - Mar 7 Well done the boys ! Who would have thought a short while ago, we'd not only be on this run, but playing the way we are and as a team. Still think Scotland should be handed another contract, also Carlos.
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thechangingman added 08:27 - Mar 7 Yup, that is a VERY well-earned point! Whisper it quietely, but I am actually starting to believe that we might have the makings of a good team here. I will certainly enjoy the rest of the season but, to be honest, I kind of want the new season to start so we can have a full run at it. I do think we'd do well to get shot of Bullard - it was worth a punt, I for one was up for it at the time. I feel, however, that we've been conned. No biggie - we can get rid and move on... Other than that, I am going to trust the Jewell to build and learn and make us an outfit to be proud of... COYB!!!!

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Blandford added 08:50 - Mar 7 Getting a deserved point against the best side in the division shows just how much we have improved over the last couple of months. PJ seems to have worked out who cares about the shirt they wear on matchday and the players that are in it for the money. Hope that contacts can be signed by the players that deserve them and that new players can be brought in to strengthening the squad over the summer. The team is strong when we are injury-free but I do fear that squad depth is still an issue. Credit where it is due however - we are on a great run and long may it continue.

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saffronblue added 09:17 - Mar 7 Great result, lets hope we can maintain the form through the rest of the season and finish higher than we did last year. As an aside anyone know whats happened to Hyam? Gone from nailed on first teamer to out of the squad
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brittaniaman added 09:19 - Mar 7 Great display to get a point from Southampton !! Now let us take the same attitude to Hull and get a result, I am not greedy by the way,, just optimistic.. !!!!! long may it continue,,,,.. When we played Bristol City last Sat. they did not look as though they had a goal in them,, yet last night they beat Leicester 3-2 football is a funny old game hey ?????..
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Bergholtblue added 09:21 - Mar 7 A great result to restrict such a free scoring team to only a single goal shows how much we have come on. Whilst I agree with the comments about this player and that player being given a new contract, no-one really knows what the full impact of next years wage capping will be. How big was the attendabce Saturday against Bristol? Under 17000? With gates of that size we may no longer be able to afford to pay our top players. Whilst Jewell may want to keep the likes of Scotland, Edwards and Bowyer, if they are out of contract we may simply not be able to afford new ones. I fear that rebuilding and bringing in new players will be limited until we can offload the more 'expensive' players. We will have to lose some of our 'favourites' to be able to get others in. Of course if everybody turns up ans fills PR every week, we would have more money in the coffers. Norridge got 28000 very week evn in L1 if we don't start to get more people into PR we will get left behind and it will be no good moaning about not attracting the quality players.

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meekreech added 10:31 - Mar 7 WOT NO JAS ?????
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davetheblue added 10:42 - Mar 7 Another great result ,well done the lads ,starting to think we are getting somewhere and building a good side for next year.COYB!!
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SuperReuser added 10:50 - Mar 7 WHO NEEDS MOURINHO, WEVE GOT PAUL JEWELLIO
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yun added 11:43 - Mar 7 @Devontractor - you will note I said 'finish sixth', not 'get promoted' and that most definitely with tongue in cheek! We always need a few cracks at the play-offs anyway, so we may as well get some practice in this year. I agree that the prospect of the Prem would be terrifying. Just happy to enjoy recent progress and the fact that we keep scoring. The higher we finish, the better quality of player we can attract.

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Tractamatt added 11:48 - Mar 7 50yearsablue;- far from it I actually think the future is looking pretty good im just a bit worried about saturday also my spelling is not that good.Does anybody know why drury was subbed lastnight was it tactical or is he injured?
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Mark added 12:30 - Mar 7 A good result last night, and it's nice to get a draw from a losing position rather than being ahead and throwing away a lead. Drawing at Southampton and beating West Ham home and away shows we can compete with the Championship big boys, which is something we haven't done for years. Credit to Scotland, a hard worker who deserves to do well. I would be pleased if they would sit round a table and negotiate a 1 year deal on much reduced wages, but I don't think we can afford for the option to kick-in keeping one of the higher paid players at the club. It could be a very different market in the summer and I'd hate it if we couldn't sign new players (who may be cheaper than in years gone by, especially in respect of wages) because of existing contracts. We need to keep moving forwards, and Paul Jewell needs to be able to wheel and deal, one of his strengths as manager.

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dommyboyblue added 12:32 - Mar 7 My thoughts exactly meekreech. Great result last night and really good 2nd half performance, although a little shaky in the first half. We have something to build on for next season, we know where we need to improve and those out of contract may not be greatly missed other than Tommy Smith. Just a thought on Leadboots - think they may have found a decent position for him? Anyone else agree. It seems he was never given a role he was comfortable with in the team but he looks pretty decent where he is and there is no pressure on him to pass forward as he just gives it simple. I for one am not his biggest fan, but credit due, he has played well last couple of games.

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BrettenhamBlue added 13:02 - Mar 7 An excellent 1-1 draw away against the League Leaders. Only disappointment is the number of posts. We lose and there are 200 odd posts. We win/draw and we get 50. Where have all the negative posters gone? Waiting in the wings perhaps?
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brendenward35 added 13:05 - Mar 7 I really feel for PJ, wasn't long ago most of the people using this site were calling for his head now you can't say and bad word about the guy. How about a forum so everyone can say sorry to PJ and give him a vote of confidence? COYB's
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Surco72 added 13:20 - Mar 7 Tractamatt ..Drury was taken off as he looked really tired the whole game and things just didnt work for him last night ,he had glimpses but the same as Leadbitter kept giving the ball away cheaply especially in the first half and i thought we looked a lot better after Jewells subs with Bowyer and Stevenson in the middle .Nice to have strength like that on the bench and all three subs and formation change after conceding got us the point well done PJ

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Lightningboy added 13:33 - Mar 7 A shame we ever let Kelvin Davis go..the last great keeper we had.
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nitroblue1970 added 13:39 - Mar 7 Have just read the match report in the EDP, as Im exiled in Norfolk for the foreseeable future. I'm wondering what game they were watching as they say Ipswich "scarcely" deserved a point and the saints should have had the match wrapped up by half time?????....i thought town matched Southampton and a win for town on the night wouldn't have been harsh on saints actually! but that's the Norfolkers for you!!

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bluelady added 13:56 - Mar 7 nitro they probably struggle to type the correct words with all those extra fingers and thumbs!! Even Saints fans thought we deserved a point, its a game of two halves and whilst they did deserve perhaps to go in with a lead, we certainly deserved to by up on them in the second half.
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nitroblue1970 added 14:44 - Mar 7 Bluelady....agree on all of that! The extra fingers and thumbs are handy when your telling the ref how many extra minutes of added time are needed which may explain why Nooooridge got so many late, late, goals last season!.....as well as extra appendages they also have to contend with their colour blindness, they see everything in green and yellow only ..YUK!
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AbujaBlue added 14:47 - Mar 7 Perhaps they lifted it from the BBC match report, which claims that the 'Saints dominated throughout'. These 'journalists' have half the report written before the match begins.
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bluelady added 15:01 - Mar 7 nitro and Abuja :-) I know a guy who used to do the reports for teletext and he rarely went to any games just used to listen to radio or catch the brief match reviews on the BBC!
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TractorTrog added 16:43 - Mar 7 Well done PJ and the boys you did us really proud was watching on Sky live scores and when I saw we were holding them to 0-0 for so long and then The Saints put one in I was devastated and thought we deserve more than that and hey presto PJ makes a super sub change !!! and were back in it. I punched the air when we won considering I was getting changed at a full Gym at the time tells you how much it meant. Hull will be another test but I think we will bring all three points back to PR...but the big one for me is to hand out a damn good thrashing to Pertbrough...COYB!!!

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