SOUTHAMPTON'S first team may not be in action on Saturday - Glenn Hoddle's squad will be travelling north ahead of Sunday's Premiership clash with Newcastle United - but Young Saints will be.

They head down the M27 to Fratton Park to take on Portsmouth's Young Blues as a curtain-raiser to the Division 1 game with Preston.

It will be part of the Bobby Stokes Memorial Match, with the return taking place at The Dell later this season.

Mike Harvey is one of Young Saints' team of coaches, and he will be in charge at Fratton Park. "It is a fabulous day out for the kids to play in front of a big crowd," said Harvey.

"They are only little kids. The Portsmouth crowd try to wind us up a bit, but all the children get a big cheer at the end, and it is absolutely brilliant."

The Young Saints squad for Saturday's game includes Nathan Sahota, Kurtis Wall, Daniel Wiles, Jack Thallon, Alex Sawyer, Darryl Holloway, Alex O'Hara, Steven Johnson, Simon Everett, Josh Armstrong, Mike Hugget, Andrew Hargroves and Jack Richards. Michael and Thomas Hugget will be the two Saints mascots.

Harvey, who is a teacher at Test Valley School in Stockbridge, runs a Young Saints football club at Oaklands School in Lordshill on a Saturday morning.

He takes a disabled football club at The Dell and runs an advanced session for Young Saints members on a Friday, also at Oaklands.

These are among 70 courses organised by Southampton Football Club, co-ordinated by the club's football in the community chief, Ian Juryeff.

He said: "It is going so well, and we have sessions all over the county from Hamble to the New Forest, and up to Winchester and Newbury. We are looking to expand into Salisbury in the coming months."

Juryeff is particularly pleased with the success of the disabled football club on a Sunday, which has already received recognition.

Two players, Michael Pearce and Luke Tattam, were called up for England earlier this month, and played in a 6-4 win over Scotland in Liverpool.

He added: "We only set up the Sunday sessions a few months ago, and it is a great achievement that already we have seen two of the lads go on to play for their country."