Saints will have to make do and mend in midfield at Mansfield with three key players likely to sit out tomorrow's Worthington League Cup second round, second leg.

In recent weeks manager Glenn Hoddle has used an effective and fluid system with Marian Pahars, Hassan Kachloul and Jo Tessem all breaking through from deep positions behind a lone striker.

But tomorrow night all three look set to miss out after picking up knocks in the 1-0 defeat at Bradford which lifted Southampton to eighth in the Premiership.

Tessem went off at half-time after taking a kick on an instep as he went to shoot and Kachloul limped off five minutes from time with a dead leg which was heavily wrapped as he celebrated the final whistle.

Pahars would have followed with a calf problem but by then Hoddle had used all three substitutes and so he had to see out the final minutes.

All three are now racing against the clock to be fit for tomorrow but with a 2-0 advantage from the game at The Dell Hoddle will not take any risks.

He said: "It looks like being a patch-up job for tomorrow because all three are doubtful at the moment.

"We don't want to risk making them worse and being out for longer but on the other hand this will be a tricky tie and we cannot afford to think it is already won.

"But it is good to go there on the back of three wins and three clean sheets. It was a tough battle at Bradford but we defended very well.

"It was a very scrappy game and the goal probably summed it up. It was a bit scrambled and I am sure Hassan will want to claim it. He has been getting into those positions well.

"We played within ourselves during the first half and should have had a second when Marian just failed to connect with a header.

"After the break though they had a spirited go at us and we had to defend well. Dean Richards was outstanding again and I was delighted with the whole of the back four.

"Last year we might have lost or drawn this one but we dug in as we had to do. It was not pretty but it was certainly a very valuable three points."

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