CHRIS BAIRD made his comeback from injury last night STILL confident he has a future at St Mary's.

The right-back lost his place in the Northern Ireland team for the recent World Cup qualifiers against Poland and Wales due to a knee injury.

He has also been mainly overlooked since impressing in the FA Cup final by Gordon Strachan and Paul Sturrock.

But Baird's agent, Gary Williams, insists his client is desperate to carve out a first-team career at Saints.

Jason Dodd started the season at right-back but Paul Telfer and Darren Kenton have since been deployed there.

Baird started to stake his claim last night during Saints' reserves 1-0 defeat at Charlton.

It was at The Valley on the final day of last season that Baird made his only appearance, as a sub, under Sturrock.

Williams said: "Chris was very positive going into his comeback game against Charlton and is fully focused on getting fit.

"He is also very positive about the Steve Wigley situation.

"Steve has spoken very highly of Chris in the past.

"Chris is moving into a new house in the area and will become a father for the first time in December and it's Southampton, Southampton, Southampton for him now.

"The next step is to get into the first team squad.

"That is also very important for his international hopes."

A host of First Division clubs showed interest in Baird during the summer, including the likes of Watford, Stoke and Leicester.

"There is still a lot of interest in Chris from other clubs but first and foremost Southampton is his priority," Williams added.

"A lot of clubs are watching to see how he goes when he comes back because he is highly rated.

"Colin Lee and Ray Lewington, who were in charge at Walsall and Watford when he was on loan, both said he did absolutely brilliantly.

"Lewington has even gone as record as saying if it wasn't for Chris they would have been relegated.

"I saw Colin Lee on Monday night and he was raving about Chris and he reckons he should be a Premiership player."

Another of Williams' clients is Saints keeper Alan Blayney, who saved an early Bryan Hughes penalty last night before being beaten by a late goal from Jonatan Johansson.

Blayney has so far missed out to Paul Smith in the battle to sit on the first-team bench as Antti Niemi's understudy.

Williams said: "Alan was very surprised not to be included in the first team squad at the start of the season.

"But there has been a change of management now and he is buckling down and working hard to get there. If that doesn't happen then he'll be looking to go out on loan."

Blayney sprung to fame last May when he impressed on his first team debut, a 3-3 home draw against Newcastle. He won the Sky 'Save of the Season' award for a stop from Alan Shearer's header in the process. He also played in the 2-1 final day loss at Charlton.