NATHAN Hurst will find himself up against familiar ‘foe’ at Blackfield & Langley tomorrow evening (Thursday, 7.30pm) when Lymington Town do battle with Saints Under-23s in the semi-final of the Southampton Senior Cup.

In his day job, the central midfielder works as an academy performance analyst at St Mary’s and will know better than most just what Radhi Jaidi’s young Saints charges are made of.

Lymington boss Dave Lewis said: “Nathan works for Saints as a sports analyst, so he’ll be playing against some of the lads he works with.

“Nathan’s in cracking form but, because of his job, he’s not always available for us. He gets called away to video matches and so on, so he’s had a bit of an in and out season.

“But he’ll play tomorrow. He’s a key player for us.”

With Pip Nolan cup-tied and Ross Bottomley, Zak Picket and Tom Man all suspended, Lymington will not be at full strength as they bid to trip up a talented young Saints side who have already waltzed past BTC Southampton (6-0), QK Southampton (12-0) and Winchester City (3-0) en route to the last four.

For their part, Lymington have beaten Sway (6-2), Netley Central Sports (6-1) and Priory Rovers (2- 1) to book their ticket to Blackfield’s Gang Warily HQ.

“You want to pick your best squad for a game like this but, unfortunately, it’s not to be,” said Lewis. “We’ve also got Ryan Fuller carrying an ankle knock.

“Even so, we feel we’ve got a good enough squad to be competitive.

“We’ll have to shuffle the pack a bit to make it all fit.”

For utility player Man, missing out is particularly painful.

“He got sent off against Fareham and got a one-match suspension and it’s fallen on the Southampton game,” said Lewis.

“He’s devastated that he can’t play.

“But we’ll go into the match with a positive attitude. We’re not going to try and contain Saints, we’re going to have a go.”

Lewis himself will be hobbling to the dugout on crutches having undergone keyhole surgery on both knees.

“All that kicking people has come back to haunt me!” laughed the former Bashley, Newport and Follands midfielder.

Lymington’s lofty Sydenhams Premier rivals Blackfield & Langley await tomorrow's winners having seen off holders Sholing in a penalty shootout.