Gray fumes at sorry Saints

13 April 2012

Southampton's gloom at Glenn Hoddle's desertion was intensified by Marcus Stewart last night as it became clearer why the former England boss decided he had taken the Saints as far as he could.

For all their efforts to try to give caretaker Stuart Gray a winning start to his nine-game reign, the men Hoddle left behind were brutally put in their place by George Burley's effervescent team.

Hoddle may represent Tottenham's ideal vision of the passing game, but, if Spurs are looking to recapture the style of lost years, they could do a great deal worse than look to replicate what Burley's Tractor Boys produce week after week.

Last night, sparked by the clever movement and deadly finishing of Stewart's first top-flight hat-trick, Ipswich were always a class apart, and the manner of this victory proved why their hopes of staying in the third Champions League spot are no pipedream.

For Gray, hoping to persuade Dell chairman Rupert Lowe he is the man to build on the foundations Hoddle has left behind, it was the sort of management baptism which springs only from nightmares.

Hoddle abandoned a team which had not conceded a goal in seven straight League games, but events off the field took their toll.

Gray said: 'It's my ambition to be a manager, but if we carry on playing like that I won't get the job. I don't mind losing on ability, but not because of a lack of application.'

Long before the end, the vociferous anti-Hoddle chants of the home fans - many of whom wore T-shirts urging 'Be a Gooner for the day' - had been silenced by the imperious way Saints had been swept aside.

There could be no complaints and Sven Goran Eriksson, completing his grand tour of the Premiership grounds, could only have been impressed by the performance of Stewart, as well as the calm assurance of Titus Bramble and the willing work of Jamie Clapham.

None of Stewart's goals was spectacular, although his hooked volley from Chris Makin's cross deserved to beat Paul Jones' dive. But the striker was calmness personified as he passed Clapham's low centre into the vacant net for the opener just after the half-hour.

His second, steering a header home from Hermann Hreidarsson's precise centre, killed off the Saints after Jo Tessem had hit the post two minutes earlier.

Then within 60 seconds, after Tahar El Khalej felled Matt Holland, he clipped coolly over the diving Jones from the spot to become the first Ipswich player to score 20 in a season - 18 of them in the Premiership - since John Wark in 1984.

Stewart said: 'John was a legend at the club and it's great to follow him. It feels brilliant.'

Burley appeared almost reluctant to praise the striker. 'It wasn't about Marcus or Sven,' said Burley. 'I think the world of Marcus but he's the first to admit he's part of a team effort.'

Martijn Reuser hit the post from 30 yards before Stewart's opener and, after forcing a flying save from Jones, the Dutch midfielder clipped the bar with an audacious free-kick from more than 50 yards.

It would have been a goal-of-the-season contender, but Ipswich are fast becoming team-of-the-season contenders. Both Burley and Stewart insisted the UEFA Cup, rather than the Champions League, remains their target. Perhaps they are underselling themselves.

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Gray fumes at sorry Saints

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