Kevin Davies and Chris Marsden will be looking to put themselves firmly in the frame for Saints' trip to Middlesbrough on Saturday by coming through a reserve game against Charlton at Staplewood.

A hamstring injury put Davies out of the home win over Sheffield Wednesday while Marsden has missed the last three with a badly bruised toe.

But both expect to prove their fitness tonight in what will be Davies' first game back on the south coast since the swap deal which took Egil Ostenstad to Blackburn.

The pair are part of a strong line-up which is drawing a large crowd of scouts from other clubs to watch players who are currently out of favour at The Dell.

After signing three players in recent weeks, manager Dave Jones now needs to trim his squad to make room for youngsters coming through and to raise cash to enable him to buy again.

He declined to name those who might be available but said: "This is an important match for several players who can either put themselves in the shop window or back in contention for the first-team." Among those looking to shine are John Beresford who has been training with the reserves since mid-August and who looks to be right out of the reckoning.

And club record signing David Hirst will play his first game of the season. He missed last week's friendly against the Australian Olympic XI with a minor knee injury.

Tonight's match has come too soon though for Matthew Le Tissier who has begun running after two weeks of resting an Achilles injury.

He now hopes to play in a specially arranged friendly against a Hampshire FA XI at Staplewood a week tomorrow (7.30)

Saints reserve team winger Andy Williams has gone on a month's loan to First Division Swindon with a view to a possible permanent move.

Williams burst on to the first-team scene two seasons ago when he made three starts plus 17 appearances as substitute and he won two full caps for Wales against Brazil and Malta.

In the past year he has been overtaken by Wayne Bridge and now hopes to rekindle his career with the Robins.

Today is the last chance for season ticket holders to guarantee their own seat for the Worthington League Cup second leg at home to Manchester City a fortnight today. Any unsold tickets go on sale to members tomorrow.

Saints Res: (from) Moss or Bevan, Hiley, Monk, Marshall, Beresford, Gibbens, D Hughes, Marsden, Bridge, Davies, Hirst, Bradley, Rodrigues, Collins, Leal.

James Beattie played the full 90 minutes for the England Under-21 side in the 3-1 defeat by Poland yesterday to put himself firmly in contention for Saturday's game at Middlesbrough.

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.