Saints go into tomorrow’s vital six-pointer against Nottingham Forest in the knowledge that they’ll be backed by the biggest attendance of the season.

More than 25,000 tickets have now been sold, which already beats the season’s highest of just under 19,000, and the majority of them will be hoping Saints can start to put an end to a wretched run of results in front of the St Mary’s crowd. Forest, meanwhile, are unbeaten in their last 5 away games, although 4 of them have been draws, and they’ve failed to score in their last two games.

Saints’ main problem at home this season has been converting long periods of possessional and territorial dominance into goals. Forest’s defence isn’t particularly solid, only 5 teams (Saints being one of them) have conceded more goals in their 23 league games, and much like us, they have particular problems at the other end of the field as they’ve only found the net 19 times. Only Doncaster have scored fewer goals.

As I mentioned in my article yesterday, there are numerous rumours doing the rounds suggesting Forest boss Colin Calderwood needs some sort of positive result from tomorrow’s game in order to keep hold of his job, which could put additional pressure on the visiting players.

Nathan Tyson and Joel Garner (who signed from Carlisle United in the summer) will probably lead the line for the visitors. Former Saints keeper Paul Smith started the season in goal, but has since lost his place to Lee Camp, who is on loan from QPR. It’s noticeable that they’ve only conceded 12 goals in the 12 games since Camp joined the club - they conceded 20 in the previous 11.

Midfielders Lewis McGugan (thigh strain) and James Perch (suspended) are unavailable, while Joel Lynch is in contention for a place at left-back with current incumbent Julian Bennett after recovering from a dead leg.

Morgan Schneiderlin misses out for Saints which will probably mean a switch into midfield for Jack Cork with Alex Pearce regaining his place alongside Chris Perry at the back. Winger Lee Holmes is set for a surprise recall after his recovery from a knee injury. It was thought he wouldn’t be ready for a first-team return until after Christmas, but he has responded well since returning to training and will hopefully provide the width and final ball that we’ve been lacking for a while.

Those either collecting or buying tickets before the game are advised to allow plenty of time before kick-off as the ticket office is expected to be very busy.

Jack Cork has given Saints a boost by declaring his wish to extend his loan at St Mary’s from Chelsea.

Cork, 19, whose current deal expires on New Years Day, told the Daily Echo “I am loving it here so far. I have just got to see what everyone is saying and hopefully I can extend it for another few months.”

He added “I have spoken to a few people from Chelsea and they have said they are very happy with how things are going and they would be happy for me to extend it.”

The news comes fairly soon after Saints boss Jan Poortvliet stated his wish to keep a number of the players currently on loan, with Alex Pearce and Jordan Robertson also currently among the first-team regulars.

Cork is out of contract at Stamford Bridge next summer and, with first-team football at last season’s Champions League runners-up highly unlikely in the short to medium term, it’s not inconceivable that he would be available on a free transfer at the end of June. Of course, his performances this season - which have included a debut for the England Under-21s - will undoubtedly have attracted the attention of other Championship clubs, so we may yet need to fight to keep hold of him even for the rest of this season.

Amid all the fuss about the FA Cup third round draw, it would be easy to forget that Saints have a league game tomorrow, where they welcome Sheffield Wednesday to St Mary’s.

Wednesday have been very hit-and-miss so far this season, in fact they have a symmetrical record in that they have won 8 and lost 8 in the Championship, and indeed their home and away form are direct opposites (6-2-2 at home, 2-2-6 away). While their away form overall is poor, they did win their last game on their travels - a 2-0 win at Blackpool - but like us, they seem to struggle to score goals.

Their leading scorer is Marcus Tudgay with six league goals, four of which have been scored at Hillsborough. At the other end, they have conceded 25 goals in 10 away games so far, which is the worst away defensive record in the Championship by some distance. Meanwhile, Saints have kept two clean sheets in a row and are unbeaten in three league games.

Jermaine Johnson is sidelined for the Owls with a knee injury but they could be boosted by the return of Tommy Spurr, Frankie Simek and Wade Small from their respective injuries.

Saints will again be without Michael Svensson, but Olly Lancashire could feature after he came through a reserve outing in midweek. Jason Euell is now available again after serving his three-match ban. Jan Poortvliet isn’t expected to make many changes from the team that started the goalless draw at Charlton, although Jordan Robertson may make way for Alex Pearce or Lancashire to allow Jack Cork to play in midfield.

Saints youngster Lloyd James was the only Saints player to feature in last night’s UEFA Under-21 Championship play-off between Wales and England at Cardiff City’s Ninian Park as he came off the bench with 6 minutes to go, but he was unable to help his country rescue a draw as they suffered a 3-2 defeat.

Saints had two players called into the England squad, Adam Lallana and Jack Cork, but neither featured in the match, although Cork was an unused substitute.

Wales took the lead in the 13th minute when a mixup between Michael Mancienne and Steven Taylor allowed Simon Church a free run on goal and he made no mistake with the finish. Incredibly, that was Wales’ first ever goal against England at Under-21 level.

The visitors were soon level though, and again it was a result of a defensive mix-up. David Wheater climbed highest at the far post to head the ball back into the danger area, but it looked a simple task for the defence to clear it. However, at least three defenders left it for each other and the ball somehow found its way into the corner of the net.

England had the lead on 35 minutes when Mark Noble’s defence-splitting pass set Adam Johnson free, and he beat the covering Neal Eardley before firing past the keeper. That lead was short-lived, however, as Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsey justified his £5m price tag by demonstrating fantastic vision to set up Church, who cut inside Taylor before beating Joe Hart in goal with a left-footed drive.

England had much the better of the second half as their greater Premier League experience began to tell. Mark Noble brought a fine save from Williams in the Welsh goal and the West Ham midfielder was involved in what ultimately proved to be the winning goal on the hour. His run to the bye-line set up Gabriel Agbonlahor who cheekily back-heeled the ball past Williams.

Wales continued to probe at England’s uncharacteristically shaky defence, with Ramsey and Shaun MacDonald going closest from long range. England, however, held on to give them a crucial lead going into the second leg at Villa Park on Tuesday. Wales showed that the tie is far from over and they will ask plenty of questions of the England side that takes the field in the second leg.

From a Saints perspective, hopefully the three players in the squads will get an opportunity in that game, which will be shown live on Setanta Sports.

Saints’ on-loan defender Jack Cork has been added to the England Under-21 squad for the forthcoming UEFA Under-21 Championship play-off double-header against Wales.

His call-up follows the withdrawal of Micah Richards and Aaron Lennon through injury, and he’ll add to the defensive cover. Lennon’s withdrawal will also increase the chance of Adam Lallana earning his first Under-21 cap, with fierce competition for places among the cream of England’s young talent.

Saints fans can tune in to hopefully see both players in action, along with Wales’ Lloyd James, on Sky Sports 1 on Friday night.

Saints have signed Chelsea and England Under-19s defender Jack Cork on loan until January.

Head Coach Jan Poortvliet has moved quickly to find a defender to fill the gap left by the departure of Andrew Davies, and Cork seems to fit the bill quite nicely. Saints apparently fought off competition from Sheffield Wednesday and Aberdeen to sign the son of former Wimbledon player Alan Cork.

Cork is no stranger to St Mary’s, having been in the Scunthorpe United side that were beaten 1-0 last season, and he was one of few standout players in a season that ultimately ended in relegation back to League One.