STEVE WIGLEY will be hoping the FA Cup third round draw provides him with a much-needed boost.

Saints have been drawn away to League Two outfit Northampton Town in the third round, with the tie likely to be played on Saturday January 8.

The tie is a repeat of the Carling Cup second round tie back in September which saw Wigley record his first win as Saints head coach with a 3-0 romp at Sixfields.

Kevin Phillips and David Prutton gave the visitors a 2-0 half-time lead with Neil McCann scoring his first - and so far only - Saints goal in the second period.

Northampton are currently tenth in League Two, just a point outside the play-off zone, and have only lost once in nine league games at home this season - 1-0 to Grimsby Town.

The Cobblers reached the third round by beating higher division Barnsley 1-0 in the first round and League Two rivals Bury by the same scoreline on Saturday - 11-goal top scorer Scott McGleish the match-winner on both occasions.

Saints have never lost to a club from the bottom division of the professional league in the FA Cup while a top flight side themselves..

Former Saints and Pompey defender Scott Hiley is off to Old Trafford after his non-league Exeter City side were handed a dream third round trip to Manchester United.

Hiley, who made 32 league appearances for Saints after being signed by Dave Jones in 1998, is the Grecians' assistant manager.

The 35-year-old defender, who was handed his league debut at Exeter in the late 1980s by current Saints European scout Terry Cooper, left The Dell in 1999 to sign for Portsmouth for £200,000. He returned to Exeter in November 2002 on a free.