SAINTS manager Russell Martin confirmed striker Ross Stewart will be in the squad to face West Brom on Saturday.

The deadline-day signing is yet to make his first appearance for the club following a move from Championship rivals Sunderland.

Stewart, 27, returned to action last week with the under-21s, scoring seven minutes into his return against his former club's youth side. 

Stewart completed 45 minutes before having a full week of training ahead of the visit of West Brom to St Mary's, which preceded the November international break.

Speaking ahead of the match, Martin said: "He’ll be involved tomorrow. We're excited about it and the players are excited.

"As I have said before, the expectations early on, because of how long he's been out, shouldn’t be too big.

"He’ll feel his way in with us and he's not had a huge amount of time on the grass, so this is probably his first full week training with the team and understanding the technical detail.

"He has a fantastic willingness to learn and we have had to try and rein him in rather than encourage him to do extra work. 

"The physios have done some fantastic work and they have been a dream to work with for us as well." 

He continued: "We'll get him on the pitch at some point tomorrow possibly, possibly not, it depends on the state of the game.

"But to have him back in the squad and then build him up over the international break is a nice period for us to really get some work into him so he can be a big player for us moving forward."

Six-foot two-inches tall and physically imposing despite his speed, Martin hopes Stewart can provide Saints with something different in their frontline. 

Stewart netted 10 goals in 13 Championship matches for the Black Cats before injury ruled him out of most of last season. 

Asked what Stewart's strengths are, Martin explained: "He's massive so that helps in this league. He is, first and foremost, a brilliant goalscorer.

"I tried to sign him at MK Dons when I watched him at Ross County and I've joked that he's rejected me twice but now we are working together. 

"He can run, he's hungry for goals, works so hard out of possession and he has a bit of everything really. For such a big guy, he moves so well. 

"His injury hasn't affected that at all but he is just short of match minutes at the moment. He suits what we do and he is a very different option to what we have as well.

"Technically good. Athletically good. Attitude good. When you can tick all of those boxes, you give us huge value."