Being a young Saints player these days is an exciting yet daunting prospect.

They have the kind of training facilities most youngsters can only dream of, and a progressive club whose very ethos is one of producing their own talent and fast tracking them towards the first team and Premier League stardom.

They also have the examples of those who have gone before.

As the current crop of Saints under-18 players battled out a 2-1 win over West Ham in an FA Youth Cup third round tie at a wet and windy St Mary’s, Gareth Bale was scoring for Real Madrid in the Champions League.

Adam Lallana was at Anfield in Liverpool colours, while the likes of Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Chambers are all established stars at Arsenal.

It underlines what can happen if you work hard and have the talent, but such is the success rate at Saints there is also pressure and expectation.

That falls not only on the shoulders of the players themselves but the staff at the club.

When people ask about Saints there is inevitably a question as to who will be the next superstar off the production line.

It could be one of these youngsters, and they know it. But, then again, maybe they will all fail to quite reach that pinnacle that is so rare, and yet seems so achievable when footballing life begins in the Saints academy.

It’s a rare pressure but last night Anthony Limbrick’s side were doing things in the best way possibly, by simply going about their business and picking up a win.

Saints rode their luck early on as they had to withstand a battering from West Ham.

They were 1-0 down after just nine minutes as they failed to clear an inswinging left wing corner. The daisy cutting set piece took a touch off of Josh Pask and diverted into the far corner, with Joe Lea’s clearance off the line coming just too late.

Only good covering from Niall Mason prevented the Hammers levelling six minutes later as Harry Isted charged out of his area but couldn’t clear the ball allowing Jordan Brown the chance to fire goalwards where the Saints right back was in place to intervene.

Pask proved to be a menace for Saints as a marauding central midfield presence in a physically strong Hammers team.

He forced Isted into a save to his right, hit a firm drive just wide and flicked a header from a corner past the far post.

After Isted had stood strong to push away Reece Burke’s header from another West Ham set piece, Saints started to find their feet.

They always look dangerous when, so much like the first team, they got the ball to the feet of their attacking players in space.

There was always plenty of movement and no lack of quality in the final third.

That said, their equaliser 11 minutes before half time was still their first shot on target.

Callum Slattery had time to look up and pick a pass and played a perfect ball into the feet of Dan Demkiv.

He continued deep into the left side area and cut back to his right a first time to leave a defender on the turf, and a second time to bypass the keeper before calmly slotting home.

The game took an intriguing twist four minutes into the second half as West Ham were reduced to ten men.

Mason curled a ball in behind and Marcus Barnes was winning the footrace against Manny Onariase.

Just as Barnes was about to breach the penalty area he was clumsily bundled over by Onariase who was duly shown a straight red card.

Initially it didn’t make life massively easier for Saints.

Though they were the team in control the Hammers sat in a little more, content to play on the break rather than attempt to dominate as they had in the first period.

For Saints it was a case of trying to break them down.

Josh Sims came very close on 68 minutes as he whistled a shot just wide before the outstanding Slattery did find the net a minute later.

Sims was jinking in from the right as Saints sensibly tried to stretch the Hammers and as the ball broke centrally Slattery took over.

He produced a breathtaking pile driver from 25 yards that flew past West Ham keeper Sam Howes for 2-1.

West Ham, by now a little tired and weary, tried to get something from the game, but the closest they came was Jerry Amoo’s near post side foot volley that went wide, as Saints held firm to ensure further progress for the club and the current generation of aspiring youngsters.

Saints: Isted, Mason, Cook, Clinton, Debayo, Little, Lea, Slattery, Demkiv (Willard 68), Barnes (Jones 86), Sims (Olomola 80).

West Ham: Howes, Pike, Burke, Pask, Onariase, Oxford, Amoo (Sheriff 88), Browne (Bailey 71), Brown, Parfitt-Williams, Borg (Diangana 81).