SAINTS BOSS Dave Jones is back-ing Kevin Davies to relaunch his Premiership career at The Dell in the wake of Saturday's crushing 4-1 defeat at Everton.

Davies looked happy to be back in red and white and showed flashes of his old form, setting up the consolation goal for Marian Pahars with a trademark powerful run.

His joy at being back showed in his willingness to try an ambitious 30-yard volley and a cute backheel flick in front of goal.

But Jones concedes there is still a major rebuilding job to be done with the 22-year-old striker who rejoined the club in a straight swap for Egil Ostenstad last week.

Davies endured a miserable year at Blackburn and Jones urged the fans to be patient with the youngster who was still a raw talent even when he was sold for £7.25 million.

He admitted: "His confidence is shot to pieces. You can see that in his body language and we have to rebuild it.

"All eyes were on him and he looked nervous so we will have to take a lot of time with him. He was so desperate to do well that sometimes he was almost trying too hard and it was not a natural thing.

"He has missed a year of football and now just wants to get on with it. He is still a young lad and he will do that here because we can give him the time he needs.

"He has only been here a couple of days and already the smile is back on his face. He will come good but it will take time and fans will see a different Kevin Davies as the weeks progress."

Far more of an immediate concern was the way the defence crumbled against a rather ordinary Everton side who last sea-son took until February to score four league goals at home - and did it against Saints in 18 minutes!

They were all gifts and Jones admitted: "If you don't defend properly you will con-cede goals. We just switched off and suddenly the game was dead. It was another case of the away-day blues. We have got to get out of the habit of coming up the motorway and conceding goals."

Centre-back Dean Richards conceded: "Too many of us got caught not having good games, myself included.

"The start of the second half was almost the exact opposite of the Newcastle game. We had planned to get the ball forward quickly and get behind them but we did not get the chance to put it into practice."

Pahars limped off after hurting a knee as he went in to score but he should be fit for Saturday's home game against Sheffield Wednesday when James Beattie could be back in contention. He was due to resume full training today.

David Hirst hopes to be fit to return to action for the reserves in a specially arranged friendly against the Australian Olympic XI at Staplewood a week on Thursday.

Dave Jones has denied reports he is lining up a move for Chelsea midfielder Bjarne Goldbaek or Stephane Morisot, a centre-back from Metz. He said: "There is no truth in either."

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