STEWART Henderson praised the professionalism of Paul Telfer as he skippered a young reserve side to a 2-2 draw against Arsenal last night.
Telfer has found himself out of the first team reckoning this season and was keen to get another game under his belt.
In a team pack with teenagers, and against a side that only had three players over the age of 20, his experience showed.
He was at the heart of Saints' best moves and played a holding role in front of the back, distributing the ball and also providing cover for his defence.
But it wasn't just his contribution to the game Henderson admired, but also the help he gave his younger teammates.
He said: "Paul's been excellent - both in this game and the other game he's played for us.
"When he has played he's been excellent and very helpful and encouraging to the young players around him and he just shows what a good pro he is."
Saints came from two goals down to grab the point against the unbeaten Gunners second string and Henderson added: "In the first half they had the better of it and had us at full stretch.
"They scored two decent goals and we just seemed to struggle to handle the pace up front, but in the second half it was a huge improvement. We had by far the better of it and got back to 2-2 and I felt we could have gone on and won it with a little bit more time.
"Their first goal was possibly against the run of play and they had belief and nearly got in other players but the key to the second half was defending better."
Arron Davies, back in the reserves after missing last week's loss at Crystal Palace through Welsh Under-21 commitments, scored the equaliser and saw another effort hit the post in an eye-catching display in attack.
Brett Ormerod shrugged off his calf injury to play the 90 minutes for Leeds United last night in their 1-1 draw at Reading last night.
Ormerod returns to St Mary's after his month-long stint at Elland Road in time to be available for Sunday's crucial home game with Birmingham City (2pm).
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