GORDON STRACHAN has praised the "presence" of Jason Dodd, who continues to keep Chris Baird out of first-team action.

Many rated Baird, pictured, man-of-the-match in Saints' FA Cup final defeat and on Wednesday he won his fourth full Northern Ireland international cap, compared to just two first-team starts for Saints.

But 32-year-old Dodd has made a solid start to the season and is currently holding off the challenge to his position and looks sure to add to his tally of more than 400 Saints appearances against Wolves and former boss Dave Jones tomorrow.

Strachan said: "We pick who is the best man. Doddsy has the experience; he's not the fastest thing on two legs but he gets himself into great positions. He uses the ball well and his passing is first class.

"At this moment there is more presence with Doddsy. Baird will have to get that presence about his play, but he's done well. He's unfortunate that Doddsy is playing that well."

Although Darren Kenton, Agustin Delgado and Marian Pahars are still unavailable through injury, Chris Marsden and Rory Delap are again up for selection in what looks a highly competitive midfield.

"We are alright with injuries, there is still the long-term ones, but Mazza is back and Rory Delap is training with us," said Strachan.

The Saints boss is predicting a close match and urged the fans to show patience following the euphoria of the 1-0 win against Manchester United.

He said: "Wolves showed at Manchester United what a threat they are. It's a great league and anything can happen if you take your chance.

"The last couple of games we had the hunger back and we definitely had the work-rate back. We have to work first and then play football.

"We have got individuals who can win games for us, but we have got to win as a team, through working."

He added: "It was close in the cup tie with Wolves and it will be close again. They may play 4-5-1 and that's hard. The crowd has got to understand that when teams play 4-5-1 it's a real, real problem.

"We saw the best of English football struggling to get goals against Liechtenstein and they are about the same as Eastleigh. So one goal more than Wolves and I will be delighted.

"The fans must understand that teams coming here have more respect for us and don't want to get beat. We also have to be patient as players and coaches. I definitely think patience is the word for now."