Saints goal machine Ryan Seager is hoping to fire his team to cup glory tonight.

The 19-year-old striker has netted 17 goals already this season and has his sights set on breaking the 20 barrier before the end of the campaign.

His first target is to get on the scoresheet at St Mary’s this evening as Saints face Blackburn in the second leg of the Under-21s Premier League Cup final.

Seager, who scored a first half hat-trick in the Cup semi-final win against Derby at St Mary’s, said: “I’m happy with the goals so far and I want to score more.

“We’ve got five league games left and the cup game tonight and I’d like to get four or five more.

“I hadn’t scored at St Mary’s until this season and I have scored four there now, so that’s a boost to my confidence.

“It’s been a better season than I expected, and I’m very happy about that.”

Very much at the top of Seager’s agenda, though, is the team ethic with his under-21 colleagues rather than personal targets.

After a goalless draw at Ewood Park last Monday, Saints are well placed to try and win a prestigious trophy.

“We’re all looking forward to it,” admitted Seager, who made his first team debut this season and is hoping to push himself further into Ronald Koeman’s thoughts during pre-season.

“A draw was a good result on Monday and we are all thinking we can win the game at home as well with a bit of a crowd there and a bit of an atmosphere.

“We thought they were going to be direct but we didn’t realise they were going to be as direct as they were.

“We worked on that in training and we know what to expect from the next leg.

“We tried to press but it isn’t always going to work because if we press they are going to boot it long.

“We have to win the second balls.

“We did well last week at winning the first balls and this time round we’ve got to be better with the second balls.

“We have done well at St Mary’s this season when we have played there, and that will help us as well. We will be quite confident.”

Playing in front of the substantial crowd that Saints are hoping will flock to St Mary’s this evening could be an intimidating prospect.

But Seager and his teammates are looking forward to the occasion.

“We’re all excited to be honest,” he said.

“Where we haven’t played in front of that many fans I think everyone is excited and can’t wait for it.

“It’s very big.

“We obviously don’t know what’s going to happen in our careers and to look back on this I will still see it as a big thing when I’m older.

“Everyone’s looking forward to it and wants to win.”