Saints are set to take up to 1,000 fans on the epic 670-mile round trip to Carlisle as they continue to boast one of the best away followings in the Football League.

The long trip to Cumbria – the longest Saints will make this season and one of the furthest trips anywhere in the Football League – will see fans travelling by coach set off at 6.30am and return after midnight.

But even that cannot dampen the spirit of the Saints fans at the moment with Carlisle predicting the south coast support will be their biggest away attendance of the season.

Saints were given an initial batch of 500 tickets for the game at Brunton Park but, after surprisingly selling out, had to request a further 500 which have also been going quickly.

For their part Carlisle are said to be looking forward to the Saints invasion as their average home gate this season has only been 5,443.

Saints have the remarkable record of taking over 1,000 fans to every away league game this season.

Their highest away following of the season was at Notts County where they notched up an impressive 2,229 and the lowest the trip to Yorkshire to face Huddersfield where their following still numbered 1,070.

Saints’ average away following this season is around 1,400, which gives them pretty much the best away following in League One and one of the very best in the Football League.

Saints also have the highest average home attendance in their division with their League One matches this season attracting an average of 20,741 – and that despite the fact at least one match at St Mary’s attracted fewer than 300 away fans.

There are only eights clubs in the entire Football League that have a better average home attendance than Saints this season – they are Championship clubs Derby, Leeds, Cardiff, Nottingham Forest, Norwich, Leicester, Sheffield United and Hull.

The fans making their way up to Carlisle today are hoping to see Saints make it five wins in a row in all competitions and seven wins out of eight.