THE FA Cup will be a welcome distraction for Saints – despite their excellent recent league form.

So says boss Nigel Adkins.

Saints made it five League One wins out of six when they romped to a 4-0 victory over Dagenham at St Mary’s on Tuesday.

But they now take a break from league action for tomorrow’s FA Cup first round tie with League Two high-fliers Shrewsbury.

Adkins is still desperate to win the tie but is pleased his players can focus on something other than League One for a short while.

He said: “It’s a welcome game. It’s the FA Cup – the beauty, the drama, the emotion of the FA Cup. We all want to be involved in it.

“It’s great for the supporters, it’s great for the players and we want to go as far as we can in the competition.

“Our main priority is the league, we won’t hide away from that, but we want to do as well as we can in the FA Cup.

“I want to win every game, I’ve always been that way. I want us to play a certain way – but we’ve got to win games.”