ALL the talk after the game on Saturday was about the performance of the veteran goalkeeper Kelvin Davis.

He made saves which kept Southampton in a game which we dominated in the first half and should have gone in at the interval with a commanding lead.

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But that man Davis denied Sam Vokes and Danny Ings and how the referee didn’t give a penalty when George Boyd was brought down in the box I’ll never know.

At the moment I have to say the standard of referees in the Premier League is poor. They are costing clubs points and when you are struggling for survival it hurts.

Also, for the second time this season, a referee has had a case of mistaken identity, and it led to West Brom’s Gareth McAuley getting sent off. I’ve never been a lover of referees, and for them to take the limelight away from the players is not fair play.

When players get booked or sent off they get punished; why don’t they punish the referees when they make a mistake?

Anyway, back to the game at Southampton. It was highlighted on Match of the Day that our two stalwarts at the centre of defence, Michael Duff and Jason Shackell, were caught out for the two goals conceded.

If Duff had moved out like the rest of the defence he would have played Shane Long offside.

But I know this game is so fast and you just have a split second to make a decision, and it’s not always the right one.

That was the case for the second goal as well, and Shackell just couldn’t get out of the way.

Now it has to be said that Shackell and Duff have both been magnificent for this club, and I’m sure any criticism will just pass over their heads.

To be fair to the team they gave it their all and really put up a good fight. We had chances galore in the first half and it could have been a different scoreline at the end.

We all know though that if you don’t take your chances you win nothing.

But I can see that Vokes and Ings are getting back to the force that they were in the Championship, which can only be good news.

They just need to start scoring now to give us a chance to survive.

The lack of goals in recent weeks has been a concern.

We must start finding the back of the net again. The chances have been coming but at this level you have to take them.

Even if it’s only a half chance, if we are to survive then they have to be buried more often than not.

We will need to do that in the next two home games. They are massive matches at Turf Moor – it’s basically two cup finals.

I’m sure the players will be up for it and we need to make it a cracking atmosphere as well.