IT is a league table that makes perfect reading for Saints fans, with their team at the top and Pompey rooted to the bottom.

The Championship discipline standings show that Nigel Adkins’ men have been one of the cleanest sides in the country this season.

Their saintly displays have resulted in just eight cards – seven yellow and one red – being brandished in their direction since the campaign began.

That is a better record than every other team in the Football League, with only Rotherham, who have played a game more, able to match their total.

By contrast, two of Saints’ biggest rivals have been getting themselves in plenty of hot water from officials this season.

Pompey have already been shown 25 yellows, as well as two reds, in their Championship campaign.

No one else in the Football League has received more than the Fratton Park outfit’s total of 27 cards.

That has dumped them firmly on the bottom of the Championship fair play table.

Brighton, who Saints have developed a strained relationship with over the past year, have been nearly as bad as Steve Cotterill’s men.

Gus Poyet’s side have been on the receiving end of 25 cautions, as well as one sending off, putting them second-from-bottom in the Championship rankings.

Leeds have been the division’s worst offenders in terms of red cards, racking up four already.

That is also tops in the Football League.

Leicester, strongly tipped at the start of the season to win the league, show no signs of getting anywhere near the summit of the fair play standings.

Under the leadership of former England boss Sven Goran Eriksson, the Foxes have received 23 bookings and two red cards in their opening ten Championship fixtures.

Saints are the only side in the division to have been shown less than ten cards in total, with Birmingham, Cardiff, Coventry and Peterborough – all on 11 – the next best.

Beyond the Championship, only League Two’s Rotherham, with their seven yellows and a single red, and League One leaders Charlton, with nine cautions, have received fewer than ten cards.

Along with Pompey, Yeovil are the only other Football League side to have been shown 27.

Saints’ lone red card was shown to midfielder Richard Chaplow, for a late and high tackle in the closing stages of the 1-0 win at Barnsley in August.

Steve De Ridder, Frazer Richardson, Dan Seaborne, David Connolly and Jack Cork (three) account for the club’s league cautions.

Championship Discipline Table

TEAM Y R Total SAINTS 7 1 8 Birmingham 11 0 11 Cardiff City 11 0 11 Coventry City 10 1 11 Peterborough 11 0 11 Burnley 11 1 12 Reading 12 0 12 Watford 12 0 12 West Ham 11 1 12 Barnsley 13 0 13 Doncaster 13 0 13 Ipswich Town 12 2 14 Nottm Forest 14 0 14 Crystal Palace 15 0 15 Bristol City 16 0 16 Hull City 16 0 16 Derby County 16 1 17 Middlesbrough 16 2 18 Millwall 20 0 20 Blackpool 22 0 22 Leeds United 20 4 24 Leicester City 23 2 25 Brighton 25 1 26 Portsmouth 25 2 27