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.
