SAINTS are enjoying a wonderful season - their best for more than a decade - but that cannot mask a growing feeling of anti-climax about the league.

Back in January, Saints were in the fourth round of the FA Cup, but had climbed to fifth in the Premiership.

With a run-in of matches largely against mid to lower-table opposition, the league looked by far the most likely avenue to secure UEFA Cup qualification.

Momentous Cup events superseded that school of thought and with just three Premiership matches remaining, a third consecutive season of mid-table comfort looks a certainty.

Make no mistake, that's still another highly satisfactory outcome.

But after showing the capability of breaking into that top bracket of about eight clubs, it is time to consider how Saints can consistently make that next difficult step upwards.

Football is full of cliches and during the past month, the cynics have been desperate to use the FA Cup run as a convenient explanation for the dip in league form.

Saturday's rather flat 2-1 defeat at Charlton probably provides the best evidence for that school of thought, but recent thrillers against Leeds, Birmingham, Aston Villa and Fulham ruin that argument.

The FA Cup has had a slight effect - but more in terms of adding to the fixture workload than any conscious slackening of effort by the players.

It is a factor that leads to the key explanation in Saints' difficulty of maintaining their Christmas top six league form further into 2003.

Despite the transfer window additions of Federico Arias, David Prutton and Danny Higginbotham, the squad basically still lacks players.

With persistent injuries to Agustin Delgado, Jason Dodd and Marian Pahars, Gordon Strachan has shared the bulk of the season's workload among just 13 trusted players.

James Beattie, Wayne Bridge, Rory Delap, Fabrice Fernandes, Claus Lundekvam, Chris Marsden, Antti Niemi, Matt Oakley, Brett Ormerod, Anders Svensson, Michael Svensson, Paul Telfer and Jo Tessem have performed superbly, all appearing in more than 30 games this season.

January additions Prutton and Higginbotham boost that number to 15, but take into consideration inevitable injuries and suspensions and it becomes obvious that Strachan does not quite have enough front-line players to push for Europe on two fronts.

The problem has been further exasperated by the fact that the majority of Strachan's trusted 13 are also internationals.

They will have been further drained this season by the demands of playing for their country.

The additional achievement of UEFA Cup football next season will, of course, mean even more matches next season for that same core of players.

Pick up any matchday programme this campaign, glance at the comparative squads and it is clear that Saints still have one of the smallest in the Premiership.

No-one is suggesting they should buy for the sake of it, but before next season they do need several carefully considered additions in the Prutton/Higginbotham mould.

Strachan has some excellent players at his disposable, but it is unrealistic for the same 13 or so to consistently perform at their very best throughout a season.

Saints have shrewdly assembled a squad of undoubted class, but to make that next step to being a top-eight club, the lesson of 2002/3 is clear - quantity as well as quality is still required.