There was an unmistakable big game buzz around Saints' Staplewood training ground yesterday.

This season's Saints pre-match press days have attracted at best a handful of journalists - the majority being the same few faces from the local media outlets.

The sighting of a Sky Sports man or a national newspaper journalist has almost been newsworthy in itself.

The truth is that the Premiership is everything. Everywhere else is nowhere when it comes to national coverage.

But, when you have the chance to make it back to the big time, suddenly people become interested again.

There were five TV crews sheltering from the rain in the club's training dome yesterday, as well more than double the usual attendance of journalists and radio bods waiting to speak to the manager and various players.

That big game buzz, the pre-match hype was back again.

Even George Burley could manage a wry smile.

After five separate TV interviews, he headed to the dome's war room' where the rest of the assembled press was gathered.

Far from being all talked out' he was delighted to be there.

"I'm very pleased to be doing interviews to be honest," he said when asked about the massive interest on this particular Thursday in May.

"It's better than being on summer holidays at the moment.

"It shows we're still in there fighting. Our aim before the start of the season was to finish in the top six to give us a chance of getting promoted.

"We've done that, but we want to go a stage further."

For full story and loads more on Saints v Derby, don't miss the 24-page pull-out in today's Daily Echo.