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West Brom 0-1 Southampton: Rickie Lambert caps great week with winner at the Baggies
After scoring the winner for England against Scotland on Wednesday, the Saints striker struck from the spot at the Hawthorns
Rickie Lamberts best week ever just got even better.
Days after becoming a dad for the third time the *Southampton striker scored a winning Wembley goal *minutes into his England debut.
And he was all smiles yet again after a last-minute *penalty to wrap up three points for his side.
If you turn on the news and find the 31-year-old has landed the Euromillions jackpot, then dont be surprised.
He is in a perfect moment, was how Saints boss *Mauricio Pochettino summed it up. Everything is going so well for him. The greatest thing in this whole story is that he deserves everything he gets because he is a brilliant *person and great footballer.
If you review the film of what I was doing when he stepped up to take the *penalty, I was leaning against a wall, very calm and cool, because I had no doubt he would score.
If Pochettino was calm, Lambert was calmer.
His spot-kick couldnt have been more confidently put away, or more powerfully.
He might even have had to practise penalties against Ben Foster while he was on international duty.
And he had to wait what should have been a nerve wracking two *minutes after *Youssouf Mulumbu ended *teenage *defender Luke Shaws run with a clumsy tackle as referee Kevin Friend was surrounded by angry Albion players.
But though Albions *England squad man dived the right way, Lamberts kick was so perfectly placed in the *bottom left-hand corner there was no keeping it out.
Saints, who won only three games on their travels last season, claimed they *deserved the win after *having a first-half goal ruled out for one of those mysterious *active/non-active offside *decisions.
Lambert outjumped *Albions defence with 33 *minutes gone and his looping header was turned in by Adam Lallana, only for a flag to go up because Jay *Rodriguez, who hadnt touched the ball, was
offside.
That should have been given, claimed *Pochettino. But if you play for 94 or 95 minutes you always have to *believe you are going to win until the very last whistle.
Lamberts joy was in contrast to the return to the Premier League of 34-year-old Nicolas Anelka.
He was a few inches short of reaching a clever drag-back by Shane Long, and on the only other time he found space during a spell of second-half pressure he wasnt quick enough to get away from Saints new Croatian centre-half Dejan Lovren.
And it was left to right-back Billy Jones to get closest to an equaliser in a frantic injury time assault, but Artur Boruc produced an excellent save to keep out his header.
It was a soft decision for the penalty, complained *Albion boss Steve Clarke.
Ive seen it a few times and Im still looking for the *contact. The Southampton player did well, but for the referee to make that call at that stage was very brave.
After scoring the winner for England against Scotland on Wednesday, the Saints striker struck from the spot at the Hawthorns
Rickie Lamberts best week ever just got even better.
Days after becoming a dad for the third time the *Southampton striker scored a winning Wembley goal *minutes into his England debut.
And he was all smiles yet again after a last-minute *penalty to wrap up three points for his side.
If you turn on the news and find the 31-year-old has landed the Euromillions jackpot, then dont be surprised.
He is in a perfect moment, was how Saints boss *Mauricio Pochettino summed it up. Everything is going so well for him. The greatest thing in this whole story is that he deserves everything he gets because he is a brilliant *person and great footballer.
If you review the film of what I was doing when he stepped up to take the *penalty, I was leaning against a wall, very calm and cool, because I had no doubt he would score.
If Pochettino was calm, Lambert was calmer.
His spot-kick couldnt have been more confidently put away, or more powerfully.
He might even have had to practise penalties against Ben Foster while he was on international duty.
And he had to wait what should have been a nerve wracking two *minutes after *Youssouf Mulumbu ended *teenage *defender Luke Shaws run with a clumsy tackle as referee Kevin Friend was surrounded by angry Albion players.
But though Albions *England squad man dived the right way, Lamberts kick was so perfectly placed in the *bottom left-hand corner there was no keeping it out.
Saints, who won only three games on their travels last season, claimed they *deserved the win after *having a first-half goal ruled out for one of those mysterious *active/non-active offside *decisions.
Lambert outjumped *Albions defence with 33 *minutes gone and his looping header was turned in by Adam Lallana, only for a flag to go up because Jay *Rodriguez, who hadnt touched the ball, was
offside.
That should have been given, claimed *Pochettino. But if you play for 94 or 95 minutes you always have to *believe you are going to win until the very last whistle.
Lamberts joy was in contrast to the return to the Premier League of 34-year-old Nicolas Anelka.
He was a few inches short of reaching a clever drag-back by Shane Long, and on the only other time he found space during a spell of second-half pressure he wasnt quick enough to get away from Saints new Croatian centre-half Dejan Lovren.
And it was left to right-back Billy Jones to get closest to an equaliser in a frantic injury time assault, but Artur Boruc produced an excellent save to keep out his header.
It was a soft decision for the penalty, complained *Albion boss Steve Clarke.
Ive seen it a few times and Im still looking for the *contact. The Southampton player did well, but for the referee to make that call at that stage was very brave.
