Saints suffer stalemate again
By Tom Adams. Last Updated: January 1, 1970 1:00am
Southampton recorded their seventh straight stalemate in The Championship as they played out a 1-1 draw with Preston.
The Saints are this season's draw specialists but only earned a point after staving off a determined second-half effort from Billy Davies' men.
Callum Davidson scored at the wrong end to hand Harry Redknapp's men the lead, but Patrick Agyemang scored a deserved equaliser on 65 minutes.
Southampton were given substantial cause for cheer as injury-plagued defender Michael Svensson made his first start for 18 months, although they could not carve out an opener as Matthew Oakley and Danny Higginbotham both failed to score.
However, the South Coast outfit took the lead on 27 minutes as Dennis Wise's deflected shot found its way to Darren Powell, and the defender's subsequent effort found its way past Carlo Nash thanks to an intervention by the luckless Davidson.
Davies's side continued their struggle to compete on home turf this season and did little to trouble Antti Niemi, with Danny Dichio unable to convert Jeff McKenna's cross before seeing another effort ruled out despite claims it crossed the goal-line.
The Saints saw former North End star Ricardo Fuller go close before Agyemang made his telling contribution by firing in off the bar after Dichio's dummy.
The experienced striker should have added his own name to the score-sheet soon after although he slipped at the vital moment when attempting to exploit Svensson's misjudged back-pass, and David Jones also threatened as Preston failed to find a vital second.
Click below for individual match summary:
Preston North End 1-1 Southampton
Matches
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npower Championship
Table
npower Championship
| Pos | Team | P | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cardiff City | 46 | 87 |
| 2 | Hull City | 46 | 79 |
| 3 | Watford | 46 | 77 |
| 4 | Brighton and Hove Albion | 46 | 75 |
| 5 | Crystal Palace | 46 | 72 |
| 6 | Leicester City | 46 | 68 |
| 7 | Bolton Wanderers | 46 | 68 |
| 8 | Nottingham Forest | 46 | 67 |
| 9 | Charlton Athletic | 46 | 65 |
| 10 | Derby County | 46 | 61 |
| 11 | Burnley | 46 | 61 |
| 12 | Birmingham City | 46 | 61 |
| 13 | Leeds United | 46 | 61 |
| 14 | Ipswich Town | 46 | 60 |
| 15 | Blackpool | 46 | 59 |
| 16 | Middlesbrough | 46 | 59 |
| 17 | Blackburn Rovers | 46 | 58 |
| 18 | Sheffield Wednesday | 46 | 58 |
| 19 | Huddersfield Town | 46 | 58 |
| 20 | Millwall | 46 | 56 |
| 21 | Barnsley | 46 | 55 |
| 22 | Peterborough United | 46 | 54 |
| 23 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 46 | 51 |
| 24 | Bristol City | 46 | 41 |
Patrick Agyemang
Callum Davidson
