"It's the game I've enjoyed most as a manager, in terms of excitement and feeling good about the game. We've had better results and beat Arsenal 3-2 recently but the excitement wasn't the same."

"It was great. I loved it, I loved the football, I loved the game and I loved the atmosphere."

"The teams showed each other so much respect, there were no bookings and the referee was excellent. There's not a bad word to say about the game.

"We said we had to be brave and should go for it. I didn't want to block the game up and it could have been any score.

"It's the game I've enjoyed most as a manager, in terms of excitement and feeling good about the game. We've had better results and beat Arsenal 3-2 recently but the excitement wasn't the same.

"Maybe that's a bit naive as we should be winning games but that's what we set out to do and what I'm excited about is how we kept on trying to win.

"I thought that the fitness of both sides was fantastic. It was a bit like basketball - you have a shot at us, we will have a shot at you. That's the way Newcastle play and you get sucked into that.

"I don't think there was a bad player in either side. Each player gave something that added to the game. There were no passengers in the game today.

"Chris Marsden had two cracking chances, and if he had hair I think we would have won the game! It skidded off his head both times. I was going to chuck a towel at him so he could dry his head, but it would have looked like I wasn't taking the game too seriously.

"The players were slapping each other on the back in the tunnel, saying 'well done, I enjoyed that, you did well, you did well.'

"I popped into the referees' dressing room and said well done. There were no bookings and no need for bookings. There were tackles but nothing malicious, and you only need a booking if it's malicious."

No stat to support it but a very rare game when neither trainer was required on the field.

Southampton v Toon in the Premiership:

2002/03: Drew 1-1 Bellamy
2001/02: Lost 3-1 Shearer
2000/01: Lost 0-2 No scorer
1999/00: Lost 2-4 Shearer, Speed
1998/99: Lost 1-2 Hamann
1997/98: Lost 1-2 Lee
1996/97: Drew 2-2 Ferdinand, Clark
1995/96: Lost 0-1 No scorer
1994-95: Lost 1-3 Kitson

After a marathon week that took toon travellers from Brum to Barca and back again, what better than a wee jaunt to the south coast to extinguish those last reserves of energy, cash and the patience of long-suffering partners, relatives and bairns?

While this game wasn't quite the all-star classic that Strachan and some media watchers reckoned, a point was a decent return for a performance that belied the hectic week the players had experienced, and was a country mile away from some of the thin fayre served up away from Tyneside in the league this season.

True, we still await our first win at Southampton since Slade were top of the pops and Supermac owned a boutique, but we've seldom been closer in the intervening thirty years.

From the off this match had what John Motson would doubtless call a "cup tie" atmosphere, were he still engaged in presenting the Premiership on TV rather than
the dubious delights of Oxford v Swindon or teams of firemen and tree surgeons.

The home side certainly seemed well meant, as befits a team who normally sweep past us on their own patch at something approaching a canter, even though they're often fighting for their top-flight lives.

An unbeaten home run stretching back beyond out first ever visit to St.Mary's last season had lately seen mighty Arsenal outscored if not outclassed, and with young Alan Shearer aka James Beattie knocking them in, hopes were high of a continuance of normal service for Strachan and his boys.

However as we've commented on before, Newcastle have proved to be anything but a soft centre when they've returned to the Premiership fray after a midweek Champs league adventure, and so it was to prove again.

Bellamy and Shearer both returned to the side after their enforced omission from the Catalonia crew, meaning that goalscoring hero Shola Ameobi was back in woolly hat and tracksuit mode. An early appearance down the touchline though saw Shola greeted warmly by the buoyant toon fans, with another half-rendition of the hokey cokey song. What a pity we can't all agree on what comes after the left leg in, turning around bit...

While the Welsh striker was buzzing around and unsettling the Southampton defence,
it often required a sweeping gaze across the field of play to locate his colleague
in the number nine shirt. Shearer has been nothing short of colossal in recent
months as he's rolled back the years and he of all people is entitled to a quiet
game once in a while.

Even so, with a wee bit more fortune he could have opened the scoring and grabbed
a winning goal. The thinness of the hairs on his knee denied him the first time,
while a great Dyer dummy presented him with the sort of chance one might have
fancied him to get on target instead of smack high into the crowd. As he said after
the Everton thunderbolt though, sometimes they go in but more often they don't...

So as Shearer dropped from the limelight, Bellamy was well-positioned to be our chief threat. And after putting a stooping header just wide of the upright in  the first half, he unleashed a curling effort in the second that was the equal of any of his Newcastle goals.

With a lead secured we almost doubled it as the Saints were carved open again. However
the chance fell to Jenas, who hasn't shown that shooting is his strong point thus far since arriving from Forest. He did get a goalbound touch but his effort was lacking in power and conviction and Jones was able to cover it. For Jenas a goal will come at some stage, and it'll probably be an absolute cracker or something that hits the back of his ear en route to the net. It doesn't really matter how, he'll feel a lot better when it happens and more confident in situations such as the one he found himself in today.

Had we made it to 2-0 of course there's no guarantee that we'd have taken the points,
with at least one glaring example from the now-demolished Dell still halfway fresh in the mind of those who witnessed it five years ago.

Such idle thoughts though were dismissed in the time it took Southampton to get to the
other end of the field and for a dangerous low cross to be slung over from the right flank only to end up in the net via the final touch of the odious Marsden.

For the Saints it was probably deserved, if a little tough on our defenders. For the third time in a week they played well collectively and in Steve Caldwell had a player with the ability to organise his colleagues, pass it or hump it when required and also time a tackle well. He looked as if he was enjoying it as well, especially when tussling with Ormerod, a player he lined up alongside for Blackpool during one of his periods in exile from Gallowgate.

Despite their early pressure and numerous half-chances, Southampton weren't overly impressive and in their haste to get at us dropped too many aimless balls towards our penalty area. Once parity was restored at 1-1 they didn't change their style much and drove at us without really threatening to snatch another goal, except when O'Brien bizarrely directed a header off Given's crossbar.

Newcastle looked marginally more likely to find a winner as the game reached it's conclusion and a constant outlet for the ball was to be found down the left in Robert. 

However unlike many observers in the away end and the press box, I didn't think he achieved a whole lot with the ball. Once again he also wound up some elements of the travelling support (and one suspects his colleagues) by his inability to throw himself into challenges when seeming well-placed to do so. 

To be fair he did put in one immaculately-timed challenge to whip the ball off a startled Fernandes, earning a big cheer partly because it was right in front of the Newcastle enclosure. However it still needs to be pointed out there's no EU quota on tackling limiting him to one go per calendar month. 

It's been said before that when Robert plays he has no equal in this club or league, and his goalscoring and goalmaking were the bedrock on which last season's campaign ended in Champions League clover. However, a look at the dreaded stats for this season tells a slightly different story and rumours of behind the scenes bickering between the player, managerial staff and other squad members remain. Providing tabloid writers with easy pickings via his website pronouncements doesn't aid his cause either, it has to be said.

A quick flight home for Bobby's boys, many of whom were destined for a seat at ringside in the boxing thumpathon at the Telewest Arena and then the opportunity to re-acquaint themselves with Tyneside (although hopefully not the interior of Market Street nick after their Christmas party on Monday).

Some well deserved R&R (or R&B) and an early Christmas before the eminently winnable
home encounter with Fulham heralds the beginning of a hectic festive period.

And for the globetrotting fans? Reintroduce oneself to ones work colleagues perhaps, indulge in yet more alcohol-tainted late nights, contemplate a mound of dirty washing and wonder where the rest of December went. Living the vida loca!

Biffa