THERE are thousands of worried Saints fans at the moment, and Saturday's poor result against fellow strugglers West Brom won't have improved their grim mood.

But in the spirit of looking on the bright side, the Daily Echo has found some reasons amid the gloom at St Mary's to be cheerful.

1) Saints are proving hard to beat. They have only lost one of their last five league matches, and that was courtesy of a very late winner at high-flying Everton with an injury-decimated side.

2) Of the six league games they have lost, only one - at Aston Villa on the opening day - was by more than a single goal. In contrast Blackburn have lost 4-0 twice and 3-0 twice.

3) Saints' injured stars are slowly coming back.

Matt Oakley plans to play his second reserve game at Norwich this week, while James Beattie, Peter Crouch and Jason Dodd are back in training. Beattie could even figure against Pompey next Saturday.

In fact the only first teamers not planning a return in the next few weeks are long-term casualties Michael Svensson and Marian Pahars.

4) Saints' midfielders have rediscovered how to score.

Anders Svensson's double at the weekend means recognised midfielders have already contributed eight goals in 2004/05 (Svensson four, Rory Delap two, David Prutton 1, Neil McCann 1) - which is three more than they netted in the whole of last season when the top scorer was Leandre Griffit with two!

Indeed, even during 2002/03 - Saints' best campaign since the mid-1980s - the midfield only contributed 13 goals all season with Anders and Fabrice Fernandes top scoring with four each.

In 2001/02 the midfield total was just 14 with Anders leading the way with six.

5) Saints currently have eight points from 12 matches. That's not good, but it's still a point better than they had after the same amount of games three years ago. And then, under Gordon Strachan, Saints recovered to finish 11th.

6) Saints are still in the Carling Cup, the competition that offers them their best chance of winning silverware this season. They face lower division Watford tomorrow for a place in the last eight - and Watford will be minus top scorer Danny Webber (injured). And for the eternal optimists, as the Daily Echo revealed last week, Everton failed to win any of their first 12 league games 10 years ago yet ended the season in mid-table and won the FA Cup!

7) Teenage striker Dexter Blackstock, though he has yet to score in the Premiership, has shown he is worthy of one day replacing James Beattie as Saints' regular targetman up front if the latter is sold in the January window.

8) The future is undoubtedly promising if Saints can manage to survive in the Premiership for a few more years - witness the likes of Blackstock, Leon Best, Martin Cranie and Matthew Mills - plus exciting 15-year-old winger Theo Walcott. Last season Saints' Under-19s won the national title for the first time while the under-18s have started this season with TWELVE successive wins - the only team in the country with a 100 per cent academy record at that age level.