MEET three Saints fans who are making the most of their club's first European away tie for 19 years - they are driving all the way to Bucharest!

Andrew Bagshawe, Will Lough and Gareth Pitchford set off on their 3,347- mile round trip yesterday morning, and don't expect to return to their Bournemouth base until Friday night.

Their marathon trek across Europe will see them visit nine countries in all, including England. And that's a massive step up from Bagshawe's previous furthest football trip - to Wigan.

"I know quite a few people are flying out to Romania but driving will be much more fun," said Bagshawe, 23, who was trusting his Volkswagen to complete the huge journey.

"It should be a great experience, something to tell the grandchildren about. My dad went up the wall when I first told him, he thought I'd get shot or something.

"But most of the people I've told have just laughed and said we must be mad.

"I must admit, we're quite proud of the fact we might be the only Saints fans driving to Romania." Bagshawe, who grew up as a Bournemouth supporter while living in the seaside town, became bitten by the Saints bug when he met Lough and Pitchford, who both live near Ringwood and are both 22, at Brockenhurst College.

He attends most games at St Mary's and Dean Court, confessing that the Bucharest odyssey will be their first away trip of the season.

"We've read up on what we can expect in Romania, and it should be a bit of a culture shock," said Bagshawe.

"I've read that when driving on the roads we should look out more for people with horse and carts rather than car drivers.

"It's a poor country, a hell of a lot poorer than we're used to. I'm told the average yearly wage in Romania is only something like $1,500."

With food and accomodation thrown in, the trip should cost the trio under £300 each.

Match tickets are £20 each, the ferry trip from Dover to Calais around £50 each, hotel accomodation for two nights in Bucharest - "in a five-star hotel, one of the best in the city" - around £100 each, plus petrol and food.

"We don't know if we're going to sleep in the car for a couple of nights before we get to Bucharest or try and find a cheap hotel somewhere," said Bagshawe.

So will it be worth it? Can Saints grab the away goal they need in order to progress? "I don't see why we can't go through," Bagshawe remarked. "I quite enjoyed the first leg, though the first half was a bit dull, Saints were a bit weak down the right side.

"I was impressed with the Steaua fans, they were very good. As for their team, they were a typical European side - their players went down far too easily and far too quickly."

If Saints progress, will our intrepid trio drive to the next away tie?

"We haven't ruled it out," said Bagshawe.