THE day before the ill-fated 1-0 defeat to Middlesbrough on September 27 last year, Matthew Oakley gave an interview to the Daily Echo.

In it, he talked about the outside possibility of forcing his way into an England squad containing midfielders like David Beckham, Frank Lampard, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt.

It wasn't arrogance on the part of Oakley, far from it. He had simply been asked about his international ambitions following a superb opening to the season.

At the time, Saints were unbeaten and lying fourth in the table behind only Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United.

Along with James Beattie and Michael Svensson, Oakley had been Saints' best player.

It was a time of huge optimism - Saints were gunning for more European football, while Oakley was looking like one of the very best central midfielders in the Premiership. If he continued the way he was going, he deserved consideration for Euro 2004.

But what happened the following day was to ruin all of that.

Saints were beaten by Middlesbrough at St Mary's, but far more serious was an injury to Oakley.

At the time, he played through the pain and finished the match thinking he had sustained only minor damage to his knee.

It was thought he would be back within a few weeks. Fast-forward more than 400 days and Oakley last night made his next competitive appearance in a Saints shirt.

In the time that has elapsed, two managers have been and gone. Glenn Hoddle almost returned and the entire feelgood factor, which Oakley played such a big part in establishing, has been eroding.

From being in a Champions League spot when he last played, Saints find themselves sat in the relegation zone now.

Whether Oakley can help kickstart Saints' season remains to be seen.

After the seriousness of an anterior cruciate ligament injury, it is very much one step at a time.

Last night's 45 minutes against Leicester was simply the latest stage on a road to recovery which has had one false start when he suffered irritation to the patella tendon in his knee during the pre-season tour of Sweden.

It's fair to say that Oakley's contribution to Saints has been noticed by more people in his absence than when he was fit. Because make no mistake, he has been sorely missed in the past 13 months or so.

Oakley's game is not necessarily always eye-catching.

He doesn't make numerous crunching tackles, he doesn't score many goals and he is unlikely to provide direct assists for huge numbers of goals.

But he is excellent in front of a defence and possesses a priceless asset - one which can be described simply as 'control'.

At his best, he provides the heartbeat of the Saints team, dropping deep, always available, setting the tempo and rarely conceding possession.

They are qualities which bring out the best in others.

In fairness, Paul Telfer and Yoann Folly have filled his role admirably on occasions.

But more often than not, the team just hasn't looked the same.

With all the talk in recent months of off-field matters, it has been easy to forget the biggest factor in Saints' poor results this season.

Forget coaching structures, the full return from injury of some of the club's best players will do more than anything to resurrect the club's fortunes.

And seeing Oakley back in action last night was one of the biggest plusses of the season so far.