SAINTS have laid down a clear challenge to those who run the club – try to keep us together because we are making progress.

With so much to be positive about around Jan Poortvliet and his team at the moment, there is still one very depressing thought looming over Saints fans.

After a difficult and inconsistent start to the season they can see Poortvliet starting to pull this Saints side together.

Performances are better and far more consistent and results are slowly but surely starting to go the same way.

But the nightmare scenario of which people almost dare not speak is that, no sooner has Poortvliet got his side on a good run, then the squad is stripped of its best players in the January transfer window.

The accounts out this week stated in black and white that player sales would be required for the financial well being of the club.

To bury heads in the sand and pretend it might not happen won’t do anybody any favours.

All we can hope is that the sale of one player will raise enough cash to keep everybody else at the club because Poortvliet is starting to look like he can get something out of this squad.

Quite what that will be, it’s impossible to tell.

But, after a week which has seen five points gained from trips to Reading and Charlton with a home match against an in-form Plymouth sandwiched in between, things are looking up.

Certainly Saints are starting to look as though they understand not only the league but the way to approach games. A little of that wide eyed naivety that cost plenty of points early on is starting to disappear.

One of the biggest criticisms of Saints this season is that for all their good play they have at times lacked the basic organisation, a crime in the Championship.

But this also seems to have been addressed, not only by Poortvliet but also by the combination of players he has put on the field.

It is absolutely no coincidence either that the good results have been achieved with the same starting XI named in each match.

All the chopping and changing was never a recipe for success – though you can forgive Poortvliet for doing it as he had to have a look at all his youngsters in first team action to work out whether they could cut it or not.

Two clean sheets in a row is a good sign and Saints are still dominating possession through the midfield areas but the major problem is finding goals.

Poortvliet has at his disposal players who can score – but not a Goalscorer. A Goalscorer is defined as one individual who you can rely on to bag you a good number every year. That last problem is the biggest remaining stumbling block for Poortvliet to overcome in the short term.

Though five points in a week is good going, with a Goalscorer there is a very real case that is might just have been nine from nine. Chances have been there and have not been taken.

Before Saints created their chances against Charlton they were thankful to Kelvin Davis for making another string of fine saves to keep them afloat – he made four in four minutes before the break.

The first saw him turn wide a driven low shot across goal from Keith Gillespie from inside the area. The second was a strong armed slap away from Hameur Bouazza’s near post drive.

The third was the pick of the lot. Davis was moving to his right but somehow applied the breaks and, at the same time, dived to his left to keep out Deon Burton’s acrobatic close range volley.

Not only that but he got up quickly enough to save Gillespie’s follow-up at the near post.

Poortvliet made a telling half time change with Alex Pearce coming on and cleaning up everything in the air to remove Charlton’s main threat. That gave Saints the base to turn the game on its head and create the chances that could have given them all three points.

Wright-Phillips was guilty of an early miss, taking an airshot from a volley, albeit a quite tricky one.

After Adam Lallana had flashed a header across goal, Nicky Weaver had turned Lloyd James’s mishit cross over the bar and saved from David McGoldrick and Wright-Phillips came Saints’ big moment.

With ten minutes remaining McGoldrick’s through ball somehow found it’s way through to Wright-Phillips in on goal.

Rather than chasing in at Weaver he opted to shoot from the edge of the box and could only hit the ball straight at the Charlton keeper.

Saints threatened again late on with Weaver making a double stop from McGoldrick and Matt Paterson but that one golden chance had been and gone.

No matter. At least Saints are showing there is a way ahead with this young side.