Saints prepared for tonight's first match since the FA Cup Final and the start of life without Wayne Bridge by picking up a few timely injury boosts.

After a run of injuries had threatened to rule many of the first team squad out of this week's pre-season tour to Sweden, a few more familiar faces than was first thought were aboard the plane that left Heathrow for Gothenburg yesterday.

Cup Final skipper and Daily Echo columnist Chris Marsden has recovered from the knee injury which forced him to fly home early from last week's training camp in Scotland and reported a massive improvement.

Also making the three-game, eight-day Scandinavian tour was Claus Lundekvam who looked almost certain to miss out last week after appendix problems.

Jason Dodd also managed to make the trip but there was not such good news for Marian Pahars, who was left behind.

The Latvian striker was plagued by ankle problems last season that resulted in him having surgery three times.

Although he is running again, he is still reporting discomfort when he kicks the ball and was not considered ready enough for a pre-season touring programme.

Also receiving treatment, and not in Sweden, are Antti Niemi, who hopes to bit fit for the start of the season after a summer operation on his knee; Darren Kenton, who left Scotland early with a calf tear, and Agustin Delgado, recovering from back surgery in Ecuador.

Saints kick-off their tour tonight with a fixture against Swedish second division side Jonkoping.

It seems likely that Paul Jones will take over between the posts with Alan Blayney the second goalkeeper on tour.

There could be a Saints debut for £250,000 giant centre half Fitz Hall, who is adjusting to life with his new teammates.

James Beattie and Brett Ormerod are likely to lead the attack with only Jo Tessem, primarily used as a substitute last season, the only back-up.

It may be that Danny Higginbotham will take Bridge's place at left-back with Graeme Le Saux not set to join the squad until later on this week.

The other option for Gordon Strachan is try try a wing-back formation.

He has built a squad capable of playing that way but the Saints boss will be wary to stray too far from the 4-4-2 which reaped such rich rewards last season.

Jonkoping currently sit fourth in Division Two East of the Swedish League and play about an hour and a half drive east of the team's base just south of Gothenburg.

After this match the team will have two days of training before lining up against Varnamo on Saturday at Ullared.

They round off their tour next Tuesday with a game against their highest placed opponents Halmstad, the former club of Saints defender Michael Svensson and who are handily placed to challenge for the Swedish First Division title.

Don't miss tomorrow's Echo for a double-page report on Saints' friendly against Jonkoping.