B Team Preview: Saints vs Middlesbrough

Saints vs Middlesbrough

Premier League 2

St Mary’s Stadium

Sunday 23rd January, 2pm GMT

Saints will go into this weekend’s St Mary’s return full of confidence, having claimed a big scalp on Monday night at Snows Stadium.

A youthful starting eleven went toe-to-toe with league leaders Fulham, putting in a resolute performance which ultimately claimed all three points thanks to goals from Dom Ballard and a late Kazeem Olaigbe winner.

Boro’s last outing was also far from short on the entertainment scale. Calum Kavanagh grabbing a hat-trick, including a 93rd minute penalty winner, to secure an all-important 3-2 win over Sunderland.

Victory for Dave Horseman’s side this weekend could see them rise as high as fifth, whilst Middlesbrough can leapfrog Saints with a win.

For the second time this season, supporters are able to watch Saints at St Mary’s for

this weekend.

All tickets must be

and can be done so using the link below:

, so please book in advance using the above link.

Supporters must be prepared to show their

ahead of the game, using the dedicated gate in the Itchen North stand.

Please be advised that

is available at the stadium on Sunday.

The two sides last met on gameday three of the Premier League 2 season, with Saints on the road for a second time in a week after a draw at Nottingham Forest on Monday.

Boro took the lead on the half hour mark at Heritage Park, Jeremy Sivi finishing past Harry Lewis for the hosts.

Saints responded with a positive second half, finally looking as though they would get their reward with an 86th minute penalty equaliser from Olaigbe.

But just four minutes later, Dare Olufuwna brought down Joe Gibson inside the box, presenting the chance for Josh Coburn to win the game in the cruellest of fashions.

“They’ve won the last two on the trot,” said Horseman. “They beat Aston Villa away and scored a couple of really good goals.

“Then they beat Sunderland and even with a centre-half sent off, a good one too. I think it’ll be two quite young teams; it might be quite an attacking game.

“Like I say they’ve really picked up recently having won those two games. When we played them away I thought they had some really talented boys. Although I think we should’ve won it on the day.

“So I think it’ll be a really even game, I think it’ll be a quick game and an exciting one. Then hopefully, if we do some of the behaviours we expect we’ll give ourselves a chance.

“When we score [in front of fans] it feels like a proper game because they cheer, which makes a huge difference to the boys, they love it, they love playing in front of the fans.

“The more that are there, cheering us on and singing the songs on Sunday will be much appreciated. We’ll try and do the best we can for them.”