ACADEMY Director of Youth Steve Wigley was delighted with Saints Under-18s' 2-0 win at Bristol City on Saturday.

With Saints already Group A winners, Wigley rested most of the players likely to appear in Wednesday's Youth Cup semi final first leg against Wolves at St Mary's.

He selected an experimental starting XI featuring five Under-16s, with three more schoolboys appearing as subs.

But Saints still won with two superb second half goals from Portuguese striker Totti, who has already netted 17 goals for the Under-16s this season.

Wigley said: "The second goal was tremendous.

"Joseph Mills played a through ball and Totti out-muscled a defender, who must have been about 6ft 1in, and lifted it over the keeper.

"The pitch wasn't the best and in the first 15 minutes we didn't really get going.

"But I was very pleased with the second half performance, we passed the ball very well.

"We left out seven or eight players and we had a young side out but I was delighted with the performance of the younger players.

"It was important to win but other pleasing elements of the performance were more important for me."

The performance will give a lift to Under-18s coach Georges Prost, who is in France recovering from an operation to remove a cancerous tumour from his neck.

Wigley said: "We're very positive and Georges is very positive too.

"We're confident he'll be back with us in the summer for pre-season training.

"The boys hold him in a lot of affection, he's done a smashing job and he's not only a football person but a genuine person."