Bollax.

By continuing to imply that Flitcroft and Thompson don't battle you are showing yourself up to be a complete buffoon Rev.

After the hysterical media outbursts following our semi last Saturday it was always going to be interesting to see how the team reacted tonight - they'd either be fired up by the criticism or they'd be bogged down by it. But this is the new Rovers under Hughes and we really shouldn't have doubted them. Their character shone through and we thoroughly deserved the win. Stead came in for Dickov as expected but Savage in for Flitty was a surprise, and not a nice one as it turned out. Other than that though we lined up the same as we did at Cardiff. The scare stories about Andy Johnson not being fit for Palace proved to be untrue. We started the game well and created chances right from the off. We were quicker to every ball, passed the ball better than Palace, pressed them into mistakes all over the pitch and really should have scored. MGP swung in a series of dangerous looking corners, one of which Stead got his head to and brought a smart save out the pyjama-wearing Palace keeper. Nelsen was also left free from a free-kick but hit the outside of the post when he really should have done better. Those were the two most gilt-edged chances but there were other half-chances in an opening 25 minutes that we totally dominated. However, slowly but surely Palace started to come back into it, we started to lose possession too often as Palace increased their work-rate, and the half was petering out towards a stalemate. Right on the stroke of half-time though we won a free-kick wide on our left, Savage swung a superb ball in towards the edge of the 6 yard box, and Pedersen just about got enough on it to send the ball in off the underside of the crossbar. A goal we deserved for our earlier efforts, but it hadn't looked like coming. Savage was replaced by Tugay at half-time. Whether that was down to injury or the fact that Savage was one foul away from a red card is anyone's guess. I thought we played really well in the second half. Palace had to come out and attack us and we took advantage of the extra space available, only poor finishing let us down. I lost count of the number of good chances we spurned - not half-chances but really good clear-cut opportunities to score - but in the end it didn't matter. Of the one's I can remember, Matteo hit the side-netting when it looked easier to score, Reid missed a sitter of a header from a glorious Emerton cross, Emerton brought a good save out of their keeper with a low shot to the far post, Stead failed to control a great through ball that would have put him clean through, Reid ran clear through on goal for half the length of the field only to be let down by a heavy final touch, and Stead hit the keeper with a poor finish when one-on-one at the death. There were probably more and if we'd scored six Palace couldn't have complained. At the other end Palace hardly offered a threat. Our defence coped easily with Johnson's pace and driving runs, and only Routledge looked capable of creating anything for the visitors. I think Friedel had to make two saves all match and they were both fairly comfortable ones. All in all it was as convincing a 1-0 win as you're likely to see. We looked a decent team and Palace looked like a team going down. Our defence was superb yet again. Friedel didn't have much to do but did what he had to well. Nelsen was as strong and composed as we've come to expect, Todd was excellent in everything he did and received a huge ovation from the crowd before, during and after the match. Matteo struggled at times with Routledge but did well in the main, and Neill had another good game. In fact, Neill's had a few good games recently (Cardiff excepted) and is starting to look more like it. Savage was fairly awful today. He didn't look fully-fit to me and he mis-timed challenge after challenge. He deservedly got booked for one of the "tackles" and then could easily have been sent off minutes later. He also wasted possession on a number of occasions. In fact, about the only thing he did right was put in an excellent cross for the goal. Reid carried on his recent good form but really should have scored a couple. Pedersen was dangerous on set-pieces but, yet again, didn't do too much in general play. But, yet again, he scored the winner so how can you be critical? I'd say he's got to be doubtful for Saturday though judging by the way he was limping around at the end. I thought Emerton had a really good game and tore Palace's left back apart at times. His runs actually had an end product most of the time tonight. Mokoena did his job as well as ever, and Thompson got a run out towards the end but didn't have much chance to make an impact. Up front I thought Stead was superb, my man of the match. He worked his socks off, his running off the ball was always intelligent and dangerous, his control and touch were excellent as he held the ball up when we needed him to, he won a lot in the air and showed a strength I wasn't sure he had, and his passing was spot on. The only thing lacking was a finish and you could tell he wasn't happy as he left the field at the end. If he keeps playing like that though the goals will come. I thought we were safe before the game, we defiantely are now. What Hughes has achieved is nothing short of remarkable. He's turned an unfit, passionless team into one of the most hard-working, passionate outfits I've ever seen wear the shirt. Our defence that was laughable at the start of the season is now as good as any in the league. And slowly but surely we're starting to add a bit more of an attacking edge to our game as well. It was noticeable against Southampton and it was noticeable again tonight. Ok, we're still not good enough yet to compete with the likes of Arsenal, but we're more than good enough to compete with the teams around and below us in the league. After tonight's results we're up to 12th. It wouldn't surprise me at all if we finished a few places higher than that come the season's end.

The fact that you don't rate him just adds weight to my argument. It was only a semi-serious suggestion, I appreciate we have higher priorities in the summer, however, if you'd replaced Flitcroft with Butt on Saturday then I think you'd have a stronger team - as much as I feel Flitcroft is underrated by many on here. We also don't really have cover for Mokoena if he gets injured / suspended. Flitcroft isn't as good a passer as Mokoena and both Savage and Reid are more box-to-box types.

I completely agree with you AESF about the way the club is run. It's rotten to the core. I just thought it was harsh to blame Souness at this stage. Of course, you could argue that a manager with better man-management skills could have knitted the St. James' Park dressing room together and stopped all the in-fighting. However, we all know Souness doesn't possess those skills and, even if he did, he'd have his work cut out at Newcastle. There are just too many players who are clearly taking the pi55. All Souness can do is wait until the summer and get rid of all those he feels are causing the disharmony. Who he replaces them with will, ultimately, decide whether Souness succeeds or fails in the job. As a side note though, there was speculation in the paper today that Butt isn't happy at Newcastle - hence his poor displays recently. I can't say I'm surprised. Coming from a top-class training regime full of top-class coaches at Man U to Souness and his merry band of helpers must be enough to make anyone question what they're doing. I still rate Butt as a player though and maybe he'd enjoy life more back in the North West!

Did you? That's not the impression I got from reading your posts (I might be wrong, so please correct me) but when I dared to suggest Souness deserved the chop, it was only the usual suspects concurring. The rest of you went for a pound of my flesh. Argue with your numpty mates - I can't be arsed.

Good grief - do you not think this is starting to get a bit silly now? I wanted Souness to go as much as anyone but this constant slagging of him is getting a little tedious now. Like any manager Souness needs time to rebuild the squad and turn Newcastle into "his" team. Only then will we be able to judge if he's been successful there or not. Do I think he'll be a success? Couldn't care less to be honest.

insert :smiley with tongue poking out mocking this statement: Neill was in the top three players on the field Don't know which field you were watching but it couldn't have been the one in Cardiff.

Really getting into The Duke Spirit at the mo. Their new single "Love is an Unfamiliar Name" is a corker and some of their older stuff is good too. Going to see them live in May.

Because all the other teams come from BIG cities ..... even Bolton has nearly twice the population of Blackburn. Go into any of the Semi-finalists town/city centers this afternoon and randomly ask people whether they are going to Cardiff this weekend......and the statistics show you are much more likly to find a positive response in Blackburn than any of the other three. Our fans are no different to any other clubs...good ones, bad ones fickle ones, loyal ones.....the difference between us and the others is that we have fewer in ALL these catagorise......I am sure some people on this site just aren't interested in trying to understand these basic facts. You're quite right ES - been saying it for years on here but certain people don't want to listen. It's usually the same people who call any of our fans who started going in the nineties "glory hunters". And the same ones who accuse anyone who wants to watch a match sat down as lacking passion. It's all about trying to prove what a top fan they are. As I said before - it's a deep-seated insecurity complex.

Hughes and his staff have improved every other defender at the club, maybe they can do / have done the same with Amoruso. If they can then Amo's presence, attacking threat and ability on the ball could be very useful in the future.

Brilliant! Don't often get the chance to agree with Rev and TDI - so I can't let this one go. Nice one Rev.

It's not rocket science LD. There were only a limited number of cheaper tickets available and they got snapped up pretty quickly (apart from the odd single ticket). I'm sure lots of us applied for the cheaper ones, I know I did, but by the time the club processed my application they'd gone. There's not been any left for at least a week now.

I can't stop singing "Dance Me In" by Sons and Daughters at the moment.

I may be going out on a limb here but I'd try the ticket office at the club.

Just showed the form table (last 6 games) on Sky. We're 3rd - behind Arsenal and Chelsea. Incredible achievement when you consider who we've played in those games.

The same Matteo who's played really well the last two games?

We were 3-0 up with 10 minutes to go. So what, the lad wanted a goal himself so he was selfish. We'd already won the game. Your constant criticism of Stead is starting to sound ridiculous.

Terrific performance, great win, bring on the cup. We lined up in our now customary 4-1-4-1 formation, the only change from the last game saw Dickov replacing Stead up front. Not sure Stead deserved to be dropped but maybe his back injury played a part in the decision. I'm also not sure that Thompson deserved to keep his place ahead of Emerton after his last couple of performances. Southampton started with a 4-4-2 formation and were tactically inept throughout. We started well, our extra man in midfield meant we won a lot of possession and snuffed out any threat they had, and it was no surprise when we took the lead early on. A fantastic 50 yard cross-field ball from Mokoena was controlled superbly on the run by Pedersen who then finished with aplomb from the tightest of angles. Great goal. We didn't really push on from there though and, although Pedersen had a couple more chances to score (he missed his kick both times), it was Southampton who slowly came more into it. As the half wore on they started to get more of the ball and created some half chances, with Crouch's heading ability a growing threat. It didn't help that Thompson picked up a head injury towards the end of the half, had to leave the field for treatment for a few minutes, and then played like he didn't know where he was when he returned. Still, we made it to half-time with our lead intact and Southampton had it all to do. In my opinion Redknapp panicked at half-time. He threw on Phillips, sacrificed a midfielder (Le Saux), and changed to 4-3-3 in an attempt to get back in the game. But it just meant that our midfield, already on top thanks to the extra man, had even more time and space to play. Emerton replaced Thompson at half-time and revelled in the extra space now available down the right. Within three minutes of the restart we capitalised on that space and scored the second. Neill, Emerton and Reid all combined down the right to send Reid clear. His low cross wasn't going anywhere until a Southampton defender got a touch and steered the ball past their keeper into the net. We were full of confidence now and a third goal came quickly - Reid finishing a low cross from around the penalty spot. It could have been any score after that. Southampton were clearly demoralised and we were bouncing. Tugay replaced the injured Flitcroft and treated the crowd to an exhibition. He had all the time and space in the world to play and boy did he use it - all flicks and tricks and great passes - a joy to watch. Why we didn't score more is a mystery really as a combination of bad final balls and poor finishing let us down, but the game was over and we cruised to the finish. Friedel didn't have much to do but did everything he had to well. Our defence was solid again and coped with Crouch well for the most part. Neill in particular had a good game, bombing on into attack in the second half and linking up dangerously with Emerton. Our midfield controlled the game throughout. Mokoena was excellent in his holding roll. He did all the ugly things well, snuffing out attacks and making challenges like we know he can, but he also passed the ball superbly well. He normally uses the ball well by making simple passes to the nearest shirt, but yesterday he added some great long balls to his game as well. My man of the match and if he can keep this form going we've got a great player. Reid attacked well and looked a threat every time he went forward - he fully deserved his goal. Flitcroft battled well, Thompson started the game well but then looked lost after his injury, and Pedersen took his goal superbly but was fairly quiet after that. Tugay came on in the second half and took the pi55 and Emerton looked like a world beater, some of his runs were breathtaking. Dickov did ok, looked sharper than he did in his last game, but his passing let him down. Too often he gave the ball away when it looked simpler to find a colleague. Stead got a run out in the last 15 minutes but didn't really get any service. We battled well in the first half and then took advantage of the space available in the second half to win the game easily in the end. I'd be absolutely livid if I was a Southampton fan though. Imagine travelling all that way to see your manager throw the game away in the manner he did. It was bad enough that they started 4-4-2 but changing to a 4-3-3 formation at half-time was just suicidal. They were already getting overrun in midfield anyway, so taking a midfielder off for an extra man up front was a bizarre decision. It's the sort of change you make if you're still behind with 15-20 minutes to go, not at half-time. Credit to us though. We exploited the time and space fantastically well in the second half and looked a really good team. I think we're safe now, I've said all along that 36 points would be enough, but we'll pick up many more points if we keep playing like that. A perfect warm-up for Cardiff next week - I'm really looking forward to it now.

But do you acknowledge what a poor job Souness was doing in the year or so before he left?

The "buzz" of the semi hasn't ever been there for me since the date and times were announced. I kind of expected the rip-off ticket prices. The FA have managed to ruin what should be a special occasion for the clubs involved. I'll be there but, to be honest, I'm looking forward to the night before in Bristol more than the game itself. Stange really as I was really excited after we beat Leicester.

As this thread seems to have turned into another attendance debate I guess this can go in here. Observer story about the decline in away fans this season At least the clubs are looking at ways to improve things. I suspect the damage has already been done though.

Interesting interview Paul and I have to agree on most points. I can't agree on your Rooney answer though - he's had a good season and he'll only get better.

Er...I have!

Oh, I'm the "Golden Boy" you keep referring to. Deary me..