STUART Gray is desperately looking for his first goal and first point as Saints catretaker manager - but he's still enjoying the job.

And as the size of his task becomes apparent with back-to-back defeats in his first two games in charge, it hasn't put him off one bit, writes John May.

"Whether I get the job will be subject to results.

"The chairman and the board of directors will make that decision.

"But I have ambitions to be here full-time," said Gray after Saints' reverse at Elland Road marked their first successive defeats since losing to West Ham at the end of November and Arsenal at the start of December.

"Of course I'm still enjoying the job, and this hasn't put me off at all. I think I headed and kicked every ball, and you never have a bad game from the touchline.

"At the moment, I'm just trying to win a game. We've got a difficult run-in. On Saturday we've got Chelsea, then we've got Aston Villa away. And we've still got the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool to play.

"My first two games in charge have been a baptism of fire against two of the top sides in the table, and even at the start of the season we knew April was going to be a tough month.

"But this is the quality of teams you play in this division," said Gray, who admitted Saints plans went out of the window after gifting Leeds a goal just nine minutes into the game.

"We've always had a game plan away from home. We want to keep the crowd quiet and the first 20 minutes are very important. You cannot give teams like Leeds a goal start.

"Players don't make mistakes deliberately, but the quality of the team you're playing dictates how often you get punished.

"On Monday the players let themselves and the supporters down, but I thought this was a better performance with the ball. The disappointing thing was in the final third where we didn't produce enough.

"Saying that, at 1-0 we were still in with a chance and Dan Petrescu had a great chance," said Gray after the Romanian international was denied by England keeper Nigel Martyn when clean through.

"Nigel Martyn did very well and some might say it was a great save, while others might think that Dan should have done better."

The defeat was another blow to Saints' fast-fading hopes of European football next season, although Gray has other priorities.

"I'm trying to get a goal on the scorecard and trying to get a point. If we can't win a game, we don't want to lose a game."