DAVID Armstrong is backing Saints to win through to their first FA Cup semi-final for 17 years on Sunday.

Armstrong was in the side when Saints last won a quarter-final on home soil in 1984.

And, just like Gordan Strachan's men will against Wolves, so the 1984 vintage team had to contend with lower division opposition.

Back then it was Sheffield Wednesday, managed by Howard Wilkinson, from the old Second Division who stood between Saints and the last four.

After a goalless draw at Hillsborough, they rocked their top-flight opponents by taking an early lead at The Dell.

Armstrong, a key figure in that particular FA Cup run, recalled: "We knew we had more class in the side thanWednesday, but it was up to us to impose ourselves on them.

"After they rattled us with an early goal, we rolled our sleeves up, got on with it and emerged as 5-1 winners.

"On Sunday Saints will be well aware that if they give Wolves an inch, they'll take a mile.

"That's why they need to take the game by the scruff of the neck as early as they can.

"Much as Sheffield Wednesday did all those years ago, Wolves will provide a good test for Saints but one which I'm sure they will overcome.

"Gordon Strachan will remind his players, though, that their attitude will have to be spot on.

"If it isn't then Wolves, with inspirational players like Mark Kennedy, who can be a dangerous customer down the left, will punish them."

It was one of the biggest disappointments of Armstrong's career that Saints never made it to the final in 1983-4.

It was a cup run for the former Middlesbrough midfielder.

He set up the winning goal for Steve Moran in a high tension derby clash at Portsmouth in the fourth round.

Then he got on the end of a Moran cross to netthe late winner in a Friday night fifth round battle at Blackburn.

He scored again in the 5-1 quarter-final win over Wednesday, but shared the overall despair at Highbury where a below par Saints lost the semi-final in extra-time to eventual winners Everton.