Saints fall foul of Ipswich revival

Holland, born and brought up in Manchester, knows it could be the defining time of the season for an Ipswich club he leads with such fierce loyalty.

He is rapidly approaching 200 consecutive games for them and while he was at the hub of Saturday's victory it was eventually achieved by a player taking his first steps in a new career at Portman Road.

Alun Armstrong heaped fresh embarrassment on Middlesbrough manager Bryan Robson by showing the kind of flinty-eyed finishing his former club have been missing as they spiralled into the relegation places.

Burley was delighted at the way his side recovered after trailing to James Beattie's third-minute goal, his eighth in seven matches.

Burley's half-time substitution saw Armstrong come on and the £500,000 new boy rewarded his manager with two goals, the second and third struck after James Scowcroft had drawn Town level.

It was a shrewd move by Burley. Southampton had not only held on to their lead with some comfort but were so organised that, until the interval, they had control of the game.

Then Burley pushed Armstrong up alongside Marcus Stewart, with Scowcroft moving wide to the right and providing the intelligent play that was a perfect balance, with the former Boro man so anxious to show how wrong Robson was to let him go.

It was the way Armstrong used his physical presence that was so decisive. Until he came on Saints had been too strong for Town, who it appeared, lacked the necessary craft to create something that would unlock an unyielding defence. But once Scowcroft had scored in the 48th minute and Armstrong slid in his first, two minutes later, Saints all but disappeared from the contest until the final minutes.

Then goalkeeper Richard Wright somehow saved with his foot a header from Uwe Rosler, who so nearly equalised with his first touch in time added on.

Wright will, of course, bear the brunt of all that United will hurl at his side and Town are fully expecting to feel the backlash of their defeat by Liverpool. United dare not slip up again.

But away from home Ipswich have been magnificent. They have won six of their last seven games on their travels, a sequence that has seen them concede only five goals.

Good fortune was with Wright too. In the first half he managed to beat away a shot from Jo Tessem but saw it rebound to safety off a post. And his instinctive stop from Rosler, thrusting out his foot to block the ball from point-blank range, proved to be the difference between his side drawing 2-2 and winning comfortably, Armstrong moments later making the game safe for Ipswich.

Now that he has overcome back and achilles injuries, Armstrong will add another dimension to Town's strikeforce. He has pace, is strong and if the final transfer fee for him becomes to close to a million, Burley will still consider it one of the buys of the season.

The Ipswich manager added: 'For me Armstrong won us the game, he was aggressive and put himself about, and there's more to come from him when he's fully fit. But, having said that, Scowcroft was exceptional in what we asked him to do.'

After managing to get him off Robson for a knockdown £500,000, with extra money added for appearances, small wonder Boro fans were so distressed at Armstrong leaving.

Holland said: 'It means we now have Stewart, Scowcroft, Richard Naylor and David Johnson as well as Alun, that's five good forwards here, and I think we've now got a great bargain in this boy.'