Saints legend Matt Le Tissier said he would carry his great friend Francis Benali to the finish line as he reached one of his darkest hours in Benali’s Big Run.

The 45-year-old Dell favourite is on the penultimate day of his 1,000-mile run to all 20 Premier League stadiums to raise money for Cancer Research UK.

But the whole epic challenge was on the verge of disaster as Benali battled agonising knee pain.

At one point Franny, who has run 40 to 50 miles on consecutive days since August 24, turned to Le Tiss and confessed that he could go no further.

However, Benali’s lifelong friend wasn’t going to let him give up and pledged to carry him more than 10 miles to their next rest stop.

“I’ve tried to be really positive about the whole experience,” said Benali.

“When times have been tough I’ve dug deep and been mentally strong.

“There was a thought that popped into my head, because my knee went from being fine to being quite literally very painful and became hard to take a single step.

“I was with Matt, we weren’t near the support vehicles and it was really really painful.

“At that point the thought did pop into my head that I was not going to be able to complete the day.

“And, bless him, Matt could see the discomfort I was in and turned around to me and said ‘well I’ll carry you mate’, which might not have been too difficult considering the weight I’ve lost.

“But it just goes to show what our friendship is and I think he did mean it, it wasn’t just a flippant comment.

“He would have quite literally carried me to get through that stretch of the run.

“That would be an interesting challenge instead, Matt carrying me 40 miles a day around the country!”

Franny is now on day 20 of 21 on his bold challenge. And he will be hoping to cross his finish line at St Mary’s tomorrow as Saints take on Newcastle in a league match.

Benali admits he is now on the home stretch of his run.

“It is now time to head south to St Mary’s," he said.

"I've got two days left, one club. I’m really excited to see the Saints fans.”