CLUB captain Jason Dodd made a winning return on Saturday, epitomising the spirit which saw Saints beat Pompey.

Dodd has been out of first-team action for three months with a back injury but was desperate to return in Saints' hour of need.

He even offered to lie on the floor of the team bus for over seven hours just to get a reserve game under his belt prior to Pompey's visit!

Many had feared the 34-year-old might struggle to break back into the team after so long out of action, but Dodd has bounced back many times in his career.

With just 70 minutes under his belt for the reserves during the week at Norwich City, Dodd began Saturday on the bench.

But he was called into action on 15 minutes - his 396th league appearance for Saints and his first since the opening day loss at Villa Park - when Andreas Jakobsson was forced out with concussion after clashing with Lomana LuaLua in the build-up to Pompey's goal.

Darren Kenton moved across to central defence and Dodd slotted in effortlessly at right-back, supplying the ball for Kevin Philips' second-half winner.

"It was needed from the players because we haven't performed," said Dodd. "The supporters saw us working hard and wanting to win and it was just the tonic we needed. We needed to start standing up."

Speaking in last Friday's Daily Echo, Wigley said he was unsure whether Dodd should have played at Norwich.

"My instincts were not to play him in the reserves because of a seven-and-a-half hour round trip to Norwich and back,"

"He was desperate to play, he said he would lie on the floor of the bus if that was needed to get there and back. He has been written off many times, but it would be nice to have him back in among us."

After the game, Wigley admitted he had considered starting with Dodd.

"We needed big players with big personalities. It was a hard decision whether to start with him and he was superb," he said.