Club historians Dave Juson & Gary Chalk continue to chart the course of Saints many successful attempts at escapology...
'The Great Escape' has become a well-worn cliché among the faithful of late. Surely, there must be other films with evocative musical scores that will serve as metaphors for near relegation experiences?!
Until somebody thinks of one, bear in mind that Saints' current predicament is unusual - omitting Saints three actual relegations they have, in 114 years of league football, flirted with demotion just six times (not including two of the three relegations) on the last day of the season.
 James Beattie celebrates once again at the Dell |
1998-99 Season
Dave Jones's side had resided in the relegation zone from the beginning of the season until the 1st May, when a 2-1 home win over Leicester City saw them emerge, like rescued submariners, blinking in the sunlight of 17th place.
Two games remained, but a win at the re-dubbed 'Dellhurst Park', the exiled Wimbledon's 'temporary' lodgings with Crystal Palace, could be enough to stave off an ulcer-inducing finale.
Ten-thousand faithful turned up, many be-fezed in tribute to Moroccan midfielder Hassan Kachloul, and, amid the cheerful mayhem, frequent bursts of 'The Great Escape' theme were performed on hundreds of kazoos!
A nervy game turned in the 69th minute, with the manifestation of Matthew Le Tissier from the bench. Three minutes later James Beattie headed home a Le Tiss free-kick. In the 84th minute a wicked 'Le God' corner-kick was helped into the net by Wimbledon's Robbie Earle and Saints were … ! Charlton Athletic ruined the party by snatching an unlikely draw at Aston Villa.
On Sunday 16th May Everton turned out at The Dell for the season's final flourish. The Saints remained 17th. At 20th and 19th respectively sat Nottingham Forest and Blackburn Rovers, already preoccupied with hiding boardroom silverware from Championship club directors, and at 18th were Charlton, two points behind Saints with a superior goal-difference.
From the off Mark Hughes and new-boy Chris Marsden, keen as schoolboys, cool as a Singapore Slings, appeared to be everywhere, thwarting Everton's tentative advances, while Le Tiss, playing behind Beattie and even newer new-boy Marian Pahars, 'in the hole', kept the visitors unnerved. The atmosphere was taut.
Uncannily, the tenterhooks tightened after 12 minutes when Pahars, following Beattie's pass, thrashed the ball home from 12 yards. The tension was, however, relaxed in the 68th minute when Pahars converted Beattie's cross with a diving header so spectacular that it left Dellites wondering what the Latvian was for je ne sais quo?
The mass jubilation displayed as Saints frolicked towards the final whistle was by no means dampened by news of Charlton's one-nil home defeat to Sheffield Wednesday. Saints were saved! Again!
Graham Hiley encapsulated the mood in Monday's Echo: 'If they had painted the Titanic in red and white stripes it would never have gone down.'
