RICKIE Lambert is hoping Saints strike a major blow in the Championship promotion race when they host Cardiff tonight.
The showdown at St Mary’s arguably represents the biggest game of the entire season so far for Nigel Adkins’ men.
Saints are holding onto second position in the table, but will drop out of the top two for the first time this term with a defeat.
However, they could also enhance their Premier League credentials with a victory against the third-placed Bluebirds, who trail them by just a single point in the standings.
Tonight’s match kicks off a potentially defining run of fixtures for Saints, with visits to red-hot Birmingham and leaders West Ham to come in the next two weeks.
Lambert, the Championship’s top scorer, knows a good spell would put Saints in a fantastic position to secure automatic promotion.
And he is confident that, with an increasingly healthy squad, they can put together an invaluable winning run.
“Everyone’s coming back now at the same time, which is a big massive boost to everyone,” said Lambert, who himself made a goalscoring return from a three-game ban in Saturday’s FA Cup draw at Millwall.
“Obviously, we’re not looking at any other game apart from Cardiff, but we do know there’s big games coming up. So hopefully we can start on Tuesday with a win against Cardiff.”
For full story and a full preview of tonight's big match, see today's Southern Daily Echo.
