HISTORY is fully on Saints’ side tonight as they bid to reach Wembley for the first time in 18 years.

Saints have only ever played at the home of English football four times since the stadium was first built in 1923.

Now they are 90 minutes away from beating MK Dons to reach the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy final.

Alan Pardew stands on the verge of becoming only the third ever Saints boss to lead the club to Wembley, the second version of which was opened in 2007.

And ace striker Rickie Lambert, right, will be going in search of his second JPT southern final winner in four seasons.

Saints welcome MK Dons to St Mary’s tonight holding a 1-0 advantage from winning the Johnstone’s Paints Trophy southern area final first leg 1-0 at stadium:mk almost three weeks ago.

Over 27,000 fans – a tournament record for a game outside of the final – are expected to pack into the stadium, and the history books are on Saints’ side.

Only once in the competition’s 26-year history has a club won the area final first leg away from home and NOT progressed to the final.

That was back in 1989 when Torquay lost the first leg of their southern final 2-1 at home to Wolves, only to win 2-0 at Molineux in the second leg.

But tonight’s visitors are proof, if it were needed, that Saints cannot afford to be overly complacent tonight against a team they have already beaten twice this season.

The MK Dons came close to losing out on a Wembley final after winning their southern final first leg at Swansea two years ago.

Paul Ince’s men won 1-0 in south Wales, only to lose the home second leg by the same score.

The Dons, though, kept their nerve to win a penalty shoot out 5-4.

Saints first reached Wembley in 1976 and, courtesy of their shock FA Cup final win over Manchester United, were invited back a few months later to contest the annual Charity Shield curtain raiser.

Lawrie McMenemy led Saints back to the Twin Towers three years later in the 1979 League Cup final and Ian Branfoot’s men reached the final of the Zenith Data Systems Cup in 1992.

Lambert knows full well the joy of reaching the tournament’s final.

He netted Bristol Rovers’ winning goal in their area final win over arch rivals Bristol City in 2006/07.

Rovers lost in the final, then played at Cardiff, 3-2 to Doncaster Rovers.