KEVIN PHILLIPS is starting to produce the kind of displays Saints bought him for - and proving it's all about partnerships.

Having been bought for £3.25m in the summer as the man to score the goals that would propel Saints on a step further this season, it's taken him a while to get going.

His runs in the team have been broken through suspension, being left out and, most importantly, not clicking with James Beattie.

At the moment he's alongside Brett Ormerod and finding that problem doesn't exist.

That of course poses its own dilemma.

Phillips was seen as the perfect foil for Beattie.

Their partnership was meant to re-create, in some form or another, that of Phillips with another big man - Niall Quinn.

Ormerod is doing well and you can't take anything away from him, nor would you want to.

But it's fair to say the plan was for Beattie and Phillips to be the first-choice strike pairing and that hasn't happened.

If you don't play them together, that means one of your men capable of scoring over 20 goals in the Premiership every season isn't in the team. That's the problem.

Beattie and Phillips have both proved they are able to be the main man who scores the goals.

But perhaps that's where the problem in their partnership has stemmed from.

Strikers are notoriously egocentric. That's not to say big-headed, because both Phillips and Beattie are very level-headed, very genuine, decent and polite guys.

It's just that, as strikers, they are single-minded in their ruthless pursuit of goals - and of being the best goalscorer around. That's what makes them so good. But having two guys like that in the same team may have been what caused the problems.

Who should be the man running the channels or going deep to collect the ball and who should be the predator just roaming in the box?

Phillips and Beattie are both used to working hard but ultimately being the predator, the main man, who finishes the chances and gets everything that comes along with that job.

With Ormerod alongside either, the same problem doesn't exist.

Ormerod is happy to be the willing runner who chips in with a few goals of his own.

If you'd have looked at it at the start of the season, assuming all three were fit, you would not have foreseen a place for Ormerod in the starting line-up.

Now it's almost a matter of who plays with him.

Again on Saturday the small strike partnership looked dangerous as Saints played things on the ground without the easy option of the high ball to the big man.

In particular, Phillips was revelling, though oddly by creating chances for others.

On 23 minutes his cross from the right picked out Ormerod, who stretched out his leg to divert the ball goalwards but Edwin van der Sar turned it over.

Four minutes before half time Ormerod gave the ball to Phillips and made a run down the right channel.

That created space on the left which Anders Svensson ran into and Phillips's beautiful chip went straight into his path.

Ormerod had continued his run and the two almost seemed to distract each other as Svensson went to finish and it allowed Van der Sar to make the stop.

In the second half Phillips crossed from the left for Rory Delap who got in front of his man but put the ball over the bar.

Saints dominated the match and played some nice stuff but could never break down Fulham's dogged defence.

For their part, the visitors looked organised and determined but never offered much in attack with only a couple of long-range efforts at the death and one blocked shot causing even a slight worry to Saints.

But Gordon Strachan's men still needed to find that elusive goal.

It could have come in the form of a penalty for handball in either the 22nd or 60th minute. The first was by Zat Knight as Phillips tried to flick the ball past him in the area.

The second came as a result of Graeme Le Saux's attempted pull back when Ian Pearce slid in with his arm out and blocked the ball. On both occasions referee Andy D'Urso said no. On the first occasion his decision was dubious, on the second it was simply wrong.

But Saints could have wrapped it up with other chances which included Van der Sar saving well against both Ormerod and Marian Pahars in the second half.

Michael Svensson had two free headers from Jason Dodd corners with one being cleared off the line by Moritz Volz and the other being mis-timed and not posing a threat.

Phillips and Ormerod, yes. Beattie and Ormerod, yes. Beattie and Phillips?

Two out of three work - it would just be better if Saints got the hat-trick.