PAUL TELFER was back in familiar territory, patrolling the central midfield areas at St Mary's last night.

But the young team around him and the empty stands must have felt like a far cry from the day he was in the same place orchestrating a famous win over Manchester United in August of last year.

The former Scottish international, that was a such a fixture of the team under Gordon Strachan, has fallen down the pecking order this season and even with the club's current injury crisis has struggled to get a look in.

So it was with that in mind that Telfer requested to play in the reserves last night.

The former Scottish international looked a little rusty - as he did when he come on as a second half sub at Everton on Saturday - but you know with him that whatever he may lack it isn't commitment.

Saints' first team are going to need plenty of application and professionalism to get out of their current predicament and Telfer showed Steve Wigley he has exactly those qualities.

He captained the side and gave a steady display in the heart of the midfield to suggest that maybe HE is the man to sit and hold deep and knock the ball from side to side alongside the more expansive Anders Svensson.

That has certainly been the opinion of my colleague Jeremy Wilson, who feels he is ideally suited to such a role and will point to the times in the past when he has unarguably been a success in that position.

Although he would probably only be a short term measure in that particular role, it's easy to see why a convincing case could be made at the moment.

However, a better role for Telfer last Saturday could have been at rightback.

With Fabrice Fernandes taken out of the starting line-up to accommodate the attacking tendencies of Neil McCann and Anders Svensson, there seemed the perfect opportunity to push Mikael Nilsson into the right-sided midfield role Wigley, and European scout Terry Cooper, says he is best at and bringing Telfer in at right-back.

That is more of an 'away from home' formation but you know Telfer will do a job there.

Now in his 30s, Telfer may not be the long-term future at Saints.

But it's hard to forget the short-term job he did when he followed Strachan through the 'in' door and helped Saints away from the bottom of the table what seems like an eternity ago but was only actually three years.

Maybe he's ready to do the same again now.

You know what you will get with Telfer, and it's at times like these that's maybe exactly what Wigley needs.