SAINTS are bracing themselves for their biggest crowd of the season on Saturday as fans get behind the team in their hour of need.

At the start of business today the ticket office had sold 29,300 seats for the game against West Brom.

That total includes the Baggies taking up their full allocation and having sold all but a handful of their 3,200 tickets.

Saints have not managed to get a crowd above 31,000 yet this season with the highest attendances - both of just over 30,700 - coming against Newcastle and Bolton.

Manchester City attracted 28,605 supporters while Saints had 'just' 27,568 against Birmingham and 27,942 for Blackburn.

Saturday's game is, amazingly, the first 3pm Saturday afternoon kick off at St Mary's this season.