Saints not out for revenge

Despite the fact that Saints suffered a 4-1 defeat at Loftus Road earlier on in the season, Mark Wotte's side will not have revenge on their minds this weekend as they face Paulo Sousa's Queens Park Rangers.

The heavy defeat back in September may appear to have been a bad day out for the south coast side, but the scoreline doesn't give a true reflection on how the game unfolded.

Reduced to ten men following the dismissal of debutant defender Olly Lancashire, Saints were already a goal down after just a minute of play when former St Mary's striker Dexter Blackstock gave the Hoops the perfect start.

Down to ten men and with an hour left to play, Saints stepped it up a gear and managed to find a way back into the game with 53 minutes gone. Adam Lallana's superb finish capped off a fantastic team goal that began as Saints stopper Kelvin Davis rolled the ball out at the back to start a move that ended in style, after a whirlwind of one-two and one touch passing.

Iain Dowie's side then took the lead once again as Damion Stewart fired home in controversial circumstances, with replays showing that he was clearly offside. Blackstock and Agyemang both bagged a goal each to add insult to injury, completing the rout in the process.

The Loftus Road outfit are now without a win in eight games ahead of Saturday's match, but Southampton Head Coach Mark Wotte insists that the two team's previous encounter is of no concern to his side.

Speaking to saintsfc.co.uk, Wotte said, "Six months ago when we played them we played a very unlucky match. We got a red card and they scored an early goal, which is never good.

"We came back to 1-1 through good football but then they scored more goals at the end.

"No one here is thinking about that match any more. It's two different teams, two different managers and two different situations.

"They are reasonably secure and are not thinking about relegation problems. I know they have other aims and want to get promoted and get into the play-offs, but that gives them a different sort of pressure.

"It's just eleven versus eleven on Saturday. Eleven players who are very committed and want to go out there and win every game. We are working our socks off and everyone is doing everything they can to keep Southampton up."

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