ACADEMY director Huw Jennings will watch West Ham play Leyton Orient tonight as Saints prepare for a quarter-final clash in east London.

Saints' reward for beating Arsenal is a place in the last eight away to the Hammers or Orient, and an academy delegation including Jennings will tonight watch the neighbours scrap out the right to host the FA Youth Cup favourites.

Jennings said: "We know all about West Ham and not much about Leyton Orient, but at this stage of the competition we will not get an easy game against anyone.

"There are some very good teams left in the competition. Crewe, Everton and Manchester City are very strong but, of the teams in the south, we'll take some beating.

"Whoever we play in the next round will give us a tough game. There's a lot of talent in east London and Orient are doing well in the Youth Alliance league.

"But we know we've got a group of players with the talent to win this competition and it will take a very good team to beat us."

Jennings reckons the spirit in the Saints side was the difference between the teams last night - as well as Theo Walcott's stunning effort.

He added: "Theo is still only 15 and plays with a bit of naivity at times, but he showed his raw potential.

"It's a talent that still needs to be honed but it was a fantastic goal.

"I thought he might transfer it to his favoured right foot as he prepared to shoot but I should have known better - it was a superb left-footed finish.

"We made life hard for ourselves by not converting chances but we showed fantastic resilience to stave off the late pressure that was inevitable from Arsenal.

"This team has fantastic desire and commitment and that's why we won.

"There were two teams with excellent talent on show but the spirit that the boys have developed for the last two years together has got us through and will hopefully sustain us for the rest of the season.

"We weren't at our best, we can improve on that, but the main thing is that we're through."

Jennings was also delighted with the size of the St Mary's crowd - the 3,012 present last night was more than treble the attendance for the 1-0 win against Norwich in the last round.

"It was the kind of support these youngsters deserve and it was excellent for the supporters to see a good display."