Kelvin Davis looks set to make a landmark appearance on Saturday and could step up a place in the record books on Boxing Day
Assuming Kelvin Davis takes his place in the Saints goal against Blackpool he will clock up 250 appearances for the club in all competitions, in the course of which he will be only the 28th player post second world war to achieve that feat.
At the moment he currently sits third in the list of Saints goalkeepers appearances post war with only Tim Flowers & Eric Martin in front of him in this respect, but if he plays against Blackpool then he will equal Flowers 251 games on the trip to Fratton Park and then beat it against Crystal Palace on Boxing Day.
Indeed he has Eric Martin currently sat on 289 within his sights well at least according to the Daily Echo, but this isnt quite correct, yes the man who they nicknamed Harpo due to his frizzy hair resembling a Marx Brother started 289 games for Saints, but he also became the first truly sub goalkeeper for the club when he came on for Ian Turner in the Texaco Cup at Luton Town in August 1974, so Kelvin will still be 40 short of Martin's record after Saturday and not the 39 in the paper.
However he is still a long way short of Tommy Allen's record, Allen was the goalkeeper in Saints first ever football league appearance in August 1920 and for 8 seasons he was a virtual ever present playing 291 league games plus a further 32 in the FA Cup making a grand total of 323.
Allen was also in goal in the 1921/22 season when Saints et their club record of only 21goals conceded in 42 games, a record that stood till the early 80's in any division and of course is still the best Saints have managed.
Kelvin is popular with many Saints fans and won them over despite his first couple of seasons being a little fraught and spats with the crowd on more than one occasion, but even his detractors have to give him a round of applause for theway he has remained loyal to Saints and its to his credit that he has managed to reach this total and write his page in Saints history.
Will he overtake Eric Martin to become Saints top keeper appearance wise post war ?
To be blunt i have to say that it could be a case of 50/50, if he played every league game between now and the end of the season he would be on 275 games plus any FA Cup games and thus an agonising 15 short of equalling the record, but if Saints were to be promoted then the big question would be, would they replace Kelvin ? and the stark reality is that there is a very good chance that they would need too, Im not being unkind here just a little pragmatic, however if he remained at the club as cover, there would be a good chance that with cup games he might just scrape up the number of games needed over a couple of seasons.
This perhaps highlights the gulf between the Championship and the Premier League in that many players who earn their clubs promotion are effectively gaining themselves a place in the reserves the following year or a transfer elsewhere, if Kelvin was to be replaced, it would be nothing personal and nothing that hasnt happened before and probably will happen countless times again at other promoted Clubs,