WHILE Nigel Adkins was left to rue the injuries that marred Saturday’s win over Cheltenham, he could take some solace from the performances of his backups.

The Saints boss made a few changes to his side for the visit of the League Two Robins in the FA Cup second round.

Notably, Bartosz Bialkowski was handed a rare appearance in goal, while 19-year-old midfielder Oscar Gobern started for the first time in nearly two years.

With a big summer clearout at St Mary’s, Saints went into this campaign with a much lighter squad than they finished the last one with.

So there will undoubtedly be times when Adkins will have to call on some of his fringe players.

And when it comes to Bialkowski and Gobern, he now knows he has two that he can rely on.

While the Polish stopper was rarely tested by Cheltenham – on only his 16th league and cup appearance for Saints since the start of the 2007/08 campaign – there was little to fault him on.

He made the few saves he had to well and kept his cool despite suffering a couple of bumps and bruises from the Robins along the way.

Bialkowski is far from inexperienced and Saints know what he can offer, but it was still encouraging to see such a solid performance from Kelvin Davis’ deputy.

Especially as Bialkowski’s last senior appearance had come at Colchester three days after last Christmas.

For Gobern, there were a couple of nervy moments, which was understandable given how long he has been away from first-team action.

But despite a few less-than-assured touches, the former youth team player had a positive impact, and scoring the third goal capped off a memorable day for him.

Adkins revealed this month that Gobern is now his fourth midfielder, behind loanee Richard Chaplow, Dean Hammond and Morgan Schneiderlin.

That was after veteran Paul Wotton had been packed off on loan to League Two club Oxford United.

With injuries and suspensions mounting – like on Saturday – there will be times when the teenager will be needed.

And Adkins could take heart from Gobern’s generally composed display.

Once you look past the concerning injuries to Lee Holmes, Frazer Richardson and Rickie Lambert – not to mention the suspension of Jose Fonte – there were other positives from the weekend too.

Guly do Prado, who can hardly be considered a regular starter, also contributed, with the second goal of the match.

With David Connolly completely absent from the squad against Cheltenham, Guly will have to step up if Lambert is ruled out for any period of time.

And with fellow striker Lee Barnard still struggling a bit, Guly’s importance could become even greater.

While Saints can undoubtedly be supremely confident in their best starting eleven, football is now very much a squad game.

And if Saints want to win automatic promotion this season, they will need to prove they have the necessary depth.

That quality could well be tested to the extreme over the busy Christmas period.

But, on Saturday’s evidence, Saints and Adkins have some reason to be confident that they can trust their fringe players with that examination.

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