Whilst I wasn’t at Wembley I watched the FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea and the biggest talking point has been was it a foul or not when Charlie Austin was accused by the officials of purposely backing into the goalkeeper.

I must say I probably got a better view than most at the ground by watching on TV and could see Austin’s eyes on the ball at all times as he wanted to get up to head it or take it on his chest.

The biggest factor of course was that both he and the goalkeeper were so close to the goalline.

If it had been further out on the pitch, for instance between Austin and the centre half, I don’t think for one minute it would have been given a free kick.

What made the difference was the ball going over the line.

The referee and Graham Poll, the ex-referee who pops up in newspapers and media, more or less said every official would have given it, but as the panel correctly said if this is a new rule why has everybody not been informed of it.

Having said that, and I think Mark Hughes and probably even the players would probably admit, Chelsea had more chances and were in fact the better team on the day.

Never mind, a good day out at Wembley for the supporters but now of course the concentration has to be on the four league games remaining.

Derby matches are never too predictable.

Pride is at stake on the terraces and I wonder particularly if the foreign players are aware of this as much as in the old days.

I am sure Mark Hughes and his staff will be hammering home the point that Bournemouth might appear to be a smaller club than most but their league position shows they have so far had a better season than us.

I have always admired them from the chairman to manager downwards and the way they have excelled despite their 11,000 capacity and they will be working harder than ever to send their supporters home happy and finish the season unbeaten by Saints having drawn the game at the Vitality Stadium.

I have never thought at all we would be relegated but I am very surprised at the number of people I have spoken to who think otherwise.

I suppose looking at the facts and figures having only won five games so far and with only four left where apparently we need to win at least two, and possibly three, I can understand what they are saying now.

I think we will beat Bournemouth and the team immediately above us, Swansea, will lose to Chelsea.

This will mean we go into the remaining three games with only one point between the clubs and one of our remaining fixtures is playing Swansea, unfortunately away from home, but it is going to be one of the most nervous and nail biting ends to a season we have had for a long time.

We undoubtedly have enough ability on the pitch.

I think we have enough individuals who can turn a game, but as I’ve said before up until Mark Hughes arrived I didn’t see us playing together as a team.

That is different now and of course we will see on the pitch today.

There are many different natures to the personnel in a dressing room and that is one of the jobs for the manager and his staff, to work out these differences, and I think that is one of the problems that Mark Hughes has.

He hasn’t really had long enough here to find out who, for instance, needs a quiet talk, an arm round the shoulder, or who needs a bit of a kick up the rear.

There have been reports in the media of an upset with one of the players and if it’s true it couldn’t have come at a worse time because the one thing you do need at this critical stage is everybody pulling together with all the different personalities and natures joining up for the one purpose, to win points and keep the club up.

My fear has been for a while with the number of players from abroad coming in do they understand the sort of thing I am talking about as much as the days when every player on the pitch was British and they all knew how vital it was to the people who turned up week after week spending their hard earned money on their love of the club.

Or are they treating it as their lastest venture and if things don’t go too well a shrug of the shoulders and leave it to their agent to move them on to the next stop.

That is the sort of talks that management has during the week leading up to the 90 minutes on the pitch.

Let’s hope the message has got through and we get the points needed starting with the derby match today.