Lambert, Adkins and Lallana Make History as Southampton Romp Past Coventry

One of my most striking memories of Southampton’s recent past is of a home game to Nottingham Forest in December 2008. I sat and watched a team of misfits, too old or too young, being overrun by a positively average visiting team. I remember watching Forest score their second goal of a two-nil win, and Kelvin Davis turn to retrieve the ball from the back of his net. I remember him shaking his head. No belief, no real belief that the football club was on the right track either in the game or in general. I remember looking around the stadium, only half-filled with the depressed and the downtrodden, and thinking, to put it bluntly, ‘this is shit.’

It is a true measure of what has happened in the four years since, then, when I say that that moment in 2008, that relegation in 2005 and the heartbreak in the 2007 playoffs were all worth it. On Saturday April 28^th 2012 Southampton returned to the Premier League in style, demolishing Coventry City in front of the BBC cameras in a performance that showed the entire nation what the club has now become.

Positivity, not nervousness, filled St. Mary’s from the very start of the game. Coventry had started brightly, forcing a chance when Gary McSheffrey found space in the box, but his shot was brilliantly clawed away by Kelvin Davis. The Saints, though, never really looked back after they took the lead on the quarter-hour.

Fonte strode out of defence with the ball, releasing Guly down the right, and his cross was met by Adam Lallana’s volley. Sharp’s predatory instinct’s did the rest as he diverted the shot past Murphy and the ground erupted. The celebrations had barely died down when Southampton doubled their lead; a Danny Fox corner was met by Fonte for his first goal of the season, his header just evading the defender on the goal line. If the noise that greeted the first goal signalled unbridled joy, the pandemonium that ensued after the second was the sound of collective catharsis.

The Saints were now in complete control, exemplifying everything that had got them into this position in the first place. Schneiderlin, in what I predict will be his final game outside of the top-tier of English football, dominated the midfield almost single-handedly. A record crowd created the most enjoyable of match-day atmospheres as they roared their team on to finish the job, as well as directing a few choice words to their dear south coast neighbours, whose relegation was confirmed last weekend.

After the break their team did finish the job. Another Fox corner fell to Hooiveld who capped off a prolific season with another tidy finish. The players ran to the crowd, sharing the ecstasy of celebration and savouring the best moment of their careers. The party had begun in earnest by the time Lallana ran onto Lambert’s knock-down and sparked another crescendo of noise – Southampton’s seven-year Premier Division exile was over.

At the end of the game I joined the obligatory pitch-invasion and wandered through the joyful hoards towards where the players and management were celebrating in the Chairman’s box. I remember looking up and watching Nigel Adkins and Rickie Lambert conduct another rendition of ‘Oh When The Saints’ from their adoring fans. And I remember thinking, to put it bluntly, ‘this is absolutely fantastic.’