EVEN THOUGH much of the excitement has petered out, the end of this season is proving a valuable learning curve for Saints.

It seems odd for spectators to go to the matches without having a great deal to worry about.

Saints aren't going to go up this season, nor are they going to go down.

Even when the club were in this position in the Premiership, you at least had glamour opposition and massive amounts of prize money for each place to play for.

It's not really like that in the Championship.

But still the fans are turning up and paying their money to be entertained, so there is a dual responsibility on the club.

For their own pride, for momentum for next season and for the fans, they want to play as well as they can and win as many games as possible.

But, for the team, they must also risk that to a degree to prepare themselves for next season and to give extra experience to those young players who need it in an environment that is not that high pressured.

After Alexander Ostlund left the field injured early on Saturday and Jermaine Wright switched to right back, Saints had a midfield in which the oldest player was 21-year-old Richard Chaplow.

The two wingers are still teenagers and Darren Potter was playing international under-21 football earlier in the week.

For these guys, including Chaplow, it is an invaluable experience.

Andrew Surman, on the left of midfield, has thrived since coming into the team and he and Jim Brennan have struck up a superb combination.

If those two stay together for next season, then you can see that side of the pitch becoming productive again for the first time since the Wayne Bridge-Chris Marsden axis was broken up for Saints in July 2003.

Nathan Dyer on the right wing, the youngest of the Saints youngsters, is also learning fast.

He is very quick, very skillful, very exciting and also works extremely hard to try and contribute to the team in defence as well as in attack.

But you can see he just needs games and experience to improve and now is the perfect time.

At one stage against Coventry, his pace of feet and mind saw him break through in a three-on-two situation.

He had a runner either side and Grzegorz Rasiak in particular was in acres of space through on goal. It just needed a little pass to the Polish hitman and the likelihood was he would score.

Dyer chose to go alone and ended up seeing a shot from 20 yards blocked on the edge of the area.

Two minutes from time, he gave Don Hutchison the slightest nudge in the Saints area and the highly experienced midfielder needed no second invitation to go down and win a penalty.

On both of these occasions, it was not ability or effort or commitment that was lacking, just a little experience.

But that's alright, nobody should mind that. Dyer is a bright lad, a very good footballer and he will learn and come back a better player next week - and the same the week after and so on.

And far better players make these discoveries now than next season in a pressure match.

Saints are building for the future and, though everybody would like to see them challenging this year, there is no doubt the run-in to this season will make them much stronger for next.

Against Coventry, it was a scrappy game. The Sky Blues had muscle and experience, not masses else.

But they use it well - they never allowed Saints to get into their stride in the first half.

Coventry had a goal ruled out for handball when Stern John blocked Paul Smith's clearance with his arm and the ball went in, while Danny Higginbotham forced Spurs loanee Marton Fulop into a good save from a drilled free-kick on the edge of the box.

The second half was a little better, Saints coming to terms with Coventry's physical approach and edging ahead when Rasiak headed across goal from Andrew Surman's free-kick.

Neither Dennis Wise nor the crossbar were able to keep the ball out.

Rasiak thought he had added a second three minutes later but the flag was up for what was a very tight offside call.

Two minutes from time, Hutchison won his spot-kick and then fired down the middle to level.

A valuable lesson learnt, for not just a few players but for a blossoming team.