Still smiling

One of footballs tried and tested cliches is that it's a game of two halves.

And Saturdays win at St Mary's bore that out.

'I don't know at the end of it whether we're worthy winners or whether we got out of jail a bit in the second half. But I do think we should have been 3-0 up before that.' Mccarthy told the club's official site, reffering to Michael Kightly's dissallowed goal for a non existent push in the penalty area.

In truth,it could have been more than three.

Southampton, likemost before them failed to cope with Wolves surging attacking play.

Yet once again, a side that should have been down and out after the first 45, fought back valiantly, if not eventually in vain and gave us more than a few scares before the final whistle.

'We came back very well, we created some good chances and we played good football. We made mistakes in the first half but the second half was outstanding.' Jan Poortvliet on his sides doomed fighback.

Capitalising on chances has been the difference between this season and the last 4 at this level.

Glenn Hoddle frequently bemoaned the ammount his side failed to stick away.

Mick McCarthy's previous two sides proved to be frugal at the back, but just as frugal up front.

With 17 games gone, the two main strikers are both into double figures. 13 more have come from midfield, with Sam Vokes and Andy Keogh bringing in 5 goals between them.

With only a third of the season gone, that's enough to keep us smiling.

For now

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