Kelvin Davis will be helped in the final games by the style that Saints employ defensively and that might be crucial.

Those Saints fans that are worried that Saints European chances have been hampered by the loss of Fraser Forster and the fact that his replacement Kelvin Davis has not exactly got a great track record in the Premier league might be heartened by the different way that Saints defend these days.

When Kelvin has played for Saints in their first two seasons in the Premier League it was not exactly a resounding success for the keeper, in 2012/13 he made 11 appearances in total and in the first 4 of those conceded 14 goals, however his remaining 7 appearances had more success and in truth he wasn't helped in those early games by a defence that was finding its feet.

In 2013/13 he made only two appearances in the Premier, his first ironically a 2-1 defeat at Saturday's opponents Everton and the second and final a 3-0 New Years Day defeat at home to Chelsea, indeed when Artur Boruc was injured Paulo Gazzaniga was the preferred choice.

But now with Gazzanhiga a little shot for confidence since his last appearances over a year ago, it seems that Ronald Koeman prefers experience to youth and Kelvin looks likely to get the nod for the rest of the season.

But Saints fans should not fear too much, the style that Saints defend in now will suit Kelvin a lot more than the style of the previous two campaigns and there is also the small fact that the defence now is a lot better.

Kelvin strength is his shot stopping in a reflex situation as was shown against Burnley and that has mainly been the type of save that Fraser Forster has made, the Saints defence is set up to deal with crosses and that will suit Kelvin who is not great on those, also the speed in the defence now means that they don't allow many shots on goal anymore, most are from distance or from close range, there are few from the edge of the box and those type of shots especially across goal have been Kelvin's achilles heel.

So Kelvin will benefit from having not only a better defence in front of him than before but one that will cover him in his vunerable areas, in short it is a back line that plays to his strenghts and protects his weaknesses.

That is not to say that Kelvin will not have a job to do, he will have to perform to the top of his game and has no room for error, however he has the experience and hopefully the motivation to perhaps finish his Saints first team career on a high.

It cannot be denied that perhaps the injury to Fraser Forster has exposed a weak link in the squad, for all his good service to the club over the years and it cannot be denied that Kelvin is a good man to have around, but the truth is that a club in Saints position should have better cover for the keeper.

However it is what it is and i like most Saints fans hope that Kelvin can rise to the occasion as he did against Burnley and that he cements his place in the club's history with a fitting run of great performances.

Photo: Action Images

GeordieSaint added 11:23 - Apr 2 He wont have Jos smashing them past him either, got to be a good start.
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perazi added 11:37 - Apr 2 A lovely heart warming story about a long standing servant of SFC, Kelvin Davis. The fact remains though that whatever sliver of hope we had for a Champions League place this season goes out the window with the injury of FF and the lack of proven cover. Kelvin, though still a handy shot stopper has repeatedly been exposed at this level since the Club's return to the Prem. and I'm expecting a howler or two despite the quality of our defence before season's end. We really should have had better GK cover.

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LesVivian added 11:37 - Apr 2 Kelvin is the best bet! Unfortunately, his weakness, crosses, is shared by Forster, who, for a 6ft 6" keeper, is indecisive about coming out for crosses. When Forster does decide to come out, he is excellent at collecting the ball. The up-side of this is that the defence has had a lot of practice in front of a good shot-stopper, who is indecisive about claiming the ball! We should be OK!

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redwight added 12:26 - Apr 2 Would also nudge him up to 300 appearances, which would be a fitting way to (probably) bring the curtain down on his Saints career.
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bstokesaint added 12:53 - Apr 2 Kelvin is a capable keeper and will be just fine when he deputises. He's no more likely to make the kind of mistake Saints' fans have been criticising Forster for and as you point out Nick his shot stopping is top notch. It's always a blow to lose your first string keeper, but at the end of the day there are bigger players on the pitch who are harder to replace and Kelvin won't mean the difference between a great season and a not-so-great one.

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BoondockSaint added 14:48 - Apr 2 The season was thrown away in February, not because of the goal keeping but because of the lack of scoring. Kelvin has been a loyal Saint, but if he (at this stage of his career) was good enough, he would have been starting. I think he would make a good coach for the young keepers we have in the pipeline. The rest of the season will be a test of character-do they want to fight to the end, or are they happy enough in the upper middle of the table? It will give Koeman a good idea of who to keep and who to get rid of.

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