FORMER Saints midfielder David Armstrong feels players like Andrew Surman who can contribute goals from midfield are “worth their weight in gold.”

Surman is Saints’ joint-top league scorer, alongside David McGoldrick, so far this season with four goals from 15 games.

That total is double what Surman, 22, managed last year in the Championship and has already equalled his best ever regular season league tally for Saints from two seasons ago.

Scoring goals from midfield is a subject Armstrong knows plenty about, having done it 71 times in 272 games for Saints in the 1980s.

He is the last Saints out-and-out midfielder to reach double figures for league goals in a season – a feat he managed in three consecutive seasons during 1983/84, 1984/85 and 1985/86.

Becoming the first Saints midfielder to do so since then gives Surman another target to aim for.

Armstrong also scored 15 times in the league during his first Saints season in 1981-82.

And the 53-year-old, who covers Saints’ away games as a summariser for Radio Hampshire, said: “There are a few good goalscoring midfielders about and they are worth their weight in gold.

“The best ones, ones like Andrew Surman, who has been linked with a number of clubs over the past couple of years, have been because they can set things up and get goals.

“And now, as he did at Preston, he is looking to get in the box more and get himself on the score-sheet.

“Left-sided players (like him) who can score goals are at a premium.”

When pushed, Armstrong was prepared to give away a few tips which he feels are key to contributing goals from midfield.

“It is just about seeing that opportunity to get forward into the box and gambling on where the ball is going to go,” he suggested.

“And the important thing is getting a good strike on the ball when you get into those danger areas.”

And that is advice he feels the Saints team as a whole can benefit from. “Goals from the defensive and midfield areas can be crucial as the season goes on,” he said. “If a couple of your defenders can chip in with four or five goals, a couple of your midfielders get into double figures and your strikers get up near the 15-20 mark you have got a team who you know can score goals.

“And if you have got those sort of figures, you are going to win games.

“We certainly need that at Southampton, where everybody chips in but at the same time doesn’t neglect their defensive duties.”

Having watched Saints on numerous occasions this season, Armstrong has been impressed with how Jan Poortvliet’s youngsters have handled themselves “especially away from home.”

But he feels they are a little “apprehensive” when playing at St Mary’s and need more belief to impose their game on visiting sides.

He added: “Looking at their predicament at the moment, a realistic target is to get out of the relegation battle first and foremost.

“With the possible out-goings in the January transfer window and the current position, a mid-table position is one that everybody would take at the moment.”