FOR Lee Holmes and Ryan Dickson, the start of the 2010/11 season had been one to forget.

But both players did themselves the world of good yesterday, in the 4-1 win against Peterborough.

Dickson arrived at St Mary’s from Brentford in the summer, bringing with him an exciting reputation.

But he suffered a shaky start to life on the south coast and failed to win the starting role from incumbent Dan Harding.

However, a second chance presented itself on Saturday, when he was thrown into the line-up against the Posh.

The door was opened after Harding became one of the casualties of last weekend’s 3-2 defeat at Carlisle.

After enduring a torrid day at Brunton Park, the 23-year-old was dropped from the squad for the visit of Peterborough.

And, while it wasn’t Dickson’s best ever display, it was almost certainly good enough to keep hold of the shirt for a bit longer at least.

Posh winger Lee Tomlin did little to test him defensively, but Dickson overcame some early nerves to look fairly sound in that department.

Although he gave the ball away a few times, he posed a pretty constant threat going forward and it was his delivery that resulted in Jose Fonte heading Saints into a 2-0 lead.

If Dickson could be satisfied with his performance, Holmes will be delighted with his own.

Having been little more than a time-wasting substitute this season, the 23-year-old winger was handed 20 minutes at the end of yesterday’s match.

And he took full advantage of that opportunity, turning in an exciting and impressive cameo.

At 3-0 down, Peterborough may have been a beaten team by the time Holmes arrived, but that shouldn’t detract from his performance.

Holmes looked fit and strong, setting up Guly do Prado for the fourth goal and running relentlessly at the Posh defence.

There were some clever touches and nice link-up play that helped keep Peterborough on the back foot, even after they had pulled one back.

With Saints becoming lighter in depth out wide, after Jason Puncheon was shipped out on loan to Millwall this week, Nigel Adkins will have been delighted at Holmes’ display.

And with teenage star Alex Chamberlain still being carefully nurtured, Holmes will likely play an increasing role in the coming weeks.

Of course, like David Connolly, much depends on whether he can remain injury-free.

Health issues have been a problem for Holmes throughout his young career and he has suffered some seriously nasty blows.

But, when fit, he can pose a real threat at this level and his re-emergence was one of the biggest plusses of yesterday’s win.