STEVE WIGLEY believes ALL of Saints' FA Youth Cup stars can go on to enjoy profession careers.

Saints' former head coach and current youth chief will take charge of the under-18s' semi-final first leg against Wolves at St Mary's tonight (7pm).

He will be alongside reserve boss Stewart Henderson in the absence of Under-18s coach Georges Prost, who has cancer.

Wigley, pictured above, said: "Georges has done a smashing job, he's a great person to work with on and off the pitch and the players all want to give him some good news by beating Wolves.

"But as a club the priority for them is not about winning the FA Youth Cup, it's about making sure they go on to have professional careers and they have got a great chance to do that."

Harry Redknapp told the Daily Echo last week that if the current Under-18s produced just "one or two" future Premiership stars for the club he would be delighted.

And Wigley added: "We're a long way from winning the competition but history tells you that teams that win the FA Youth Cup produce two or three Premiership players and I would hope this team would do that.

"And I would like to think that those that don't make it in the top flight will go on to play at a lower level.

"There's no reason why that can't happen, there's a big gap between the Premiership and the rest and it's great when players who leave this club prove themselves elsewhere.

"I like to pick up the papers and see how players who have been at the academy like Arron Davies (Yeovil), Matthew Crowell (Wrexham) and Brian Howard (Swindon) are getting on, as well as those out on loan."

Of more immediate concern is tonight's semi-final against Wolves, with Saints preparing for their first two-legged game since the under-19 championship final win against Sheffield United last season.

But Wigley insists that a win tonight is not made more important because of the poor quality of the Molineux pitch, which is suffering from the fungal disease leaf spot, ahead of next Wednesday's second leg.

He added: "With the game being over two legs this semi-final will be a different experience for many of the players, so we'll be emphasising the importance of patience.

"We would obviously like to go there with a lead, but the pitch at Molineux will be the same for both sides.

"And I cannot imagine it will be as bad as the one at Bristol City, where the under 18s won 2-0 on Saturday."

Wigley used to work with Wolves academy coach John Perkins at Nottingham Forest and is a good friend of another ex-Saints boss Stuart Gray, who will be at St Mary's tonight in his role as Glenn Hoddle's No 2.

He is also well aware of the Wolves dangermen but has no plans to put a man-marker on playmaker Mark Davies.

"I saw Mark play alongside Theo Walcott for England under 17s against Serbia & Montenegro last week and he was excellent," said Wigley.

"I would expect him to be their main threat but we'll be concentrating on what we can do."

Admission at St Mary's tonight costs £3 (adults) and £1 (concessions).

Car parking will be available on a first come first served basis at £2 a space.