Southampton 2 Swansea City 0

Goals from Lallana and Rodriguez were enough to give the home side victory but had the Swans not been so wasteful in front of goal they would have walked away with at least a point from the game and in truth it was probably the least they deserved.

For the fourth time in seven games we ended the game with that feeling that we probably didn’t get what we deserved and we head into the second international break of the season in 15th place, separated from the bottom three only by goal difference.

Nathan Dyer, Michu and Bony were the main parties who missed glorious chances for the Swans who got themselves into a game after a disappointing opening twenty minutes where they surrendered possession far too easily and allowed Southampton to gain the upper hand in the game.

Michael Laudrup had named what is – Ashley Williams aside – what I believe he sees as his first choice XI with Angel Rangel back in the side to make up a defensive line that included Ben, Amat and Chico. Shelvey and Canas were providing the defensive side of the midfield allowing Michu – sporting his head protection – and Bony the opportunity to line up together at the front end of the line up. With still no Pablo Hernandez it was left to Nathan Dyer and Wayne Routledge to provide the width to the side.

As stated above though the Swans started poorly and were guilty on more than one occasion of giving the ball away needlessly to hive the Saints the early advantage. And – not untypically – it was from one of their sloppy moments that Lallana gave the home side the lead. A botched clearance in the box allowed Davis to play in the Saints skipper and his sharp finish gave Vorm no chance and the home side were ahead.

The goal seemed though to spur the Swans into action and for the remainder of the first half they very much held the advantage both in terms of possession and in terms of chances. Having been restricted to a couple of long shots from Shelvey in the early stages, Michu forced a superb save from Boruc when he headed powerfully from Nathan Dyer’s cross whilst Dyer himself was played in by a superb touch from Bony only to see his shot come off the inside of the post and roll across the goalline with nobody able to follow it up.

Boruc tipped another great effort from Shelvey around the post as the Swans threatened more and more and Bony also had a header saved as they went in search of the equaliser but were left thwarted at the half time whistle.

H-T Southampton 1 Swansea City 0

The Swans started the second half as they ended the first with the bulk of possession and continued to probe the Southampton goal in search of the equaliser.

And it was former Southampton player Dyer who missed probably the best chance of the second half when he fired well having played in on goal while both Michu and Bony failed to hit the target with headers while well placed.

It was starting to look like one of those afternoons as Michael changed the disappointing Routledge for Pozuelo and with it the Swans looked to lose some of their shape. I am a massive Pozuelo fan but when we bring him on for one of the wide men we lose an attacking outlet whilst becoming very narrow in midfield which thwarts us elsewhere.

Having said that, we were still the better team at this point and continued to create chances in our search of the equaliser.

The home side had a goal disallowed from a corner that was right up there with bad refereeing decisions on both fronts but it was the Saints who got the second goal of the game and the decisive one with ten minutes left to play.

Hesitation between Chico and Amat allowed home substitute Rodriguez enough time to fire past Vorm and secure the points and lift Southampton into the dizzy heights of the top four.

A disappointing afternoon on the road and we left with the knowledge that we have to start converting the chances that we create if we aren’t going to leave many games this season with that feeling of ‘what may have been’

Two weeks rest now and bottom of the table Sunderland next at the Liberty.