Its time for the team and fans to pull together in the run for promotion.

Away from home the Saints support has been second to none (Well apart from Leeds perhaps) indeed already over a 1,000 tickets have been sold for Tuesday's trip to Bristol Rover's with the remaining few hundred going at a rate of knots.

So Saturday's visit of Charlton gives the home only fans a chance to show their loyalty in what is the start of a run that islast chance saloon in every game for Saints.

That being the case every game has to be treated like a cup final, both on and off the pitch.

On the pitch draws are no longer any good to us, in that respect I would expect to see Saints going for it hell for leather if they are on level terms going into the final 15 mins or so of a game, tactics are going to be important, if we arent winning then I would expect to see all our forwards on the pitch and if we get the lead we need to be able to adapt quickly to ensure we dont lose it.

Off the pitch its time for St Mary's to be turned into a sea of support and those banks of empty seats to be filled, OK perhaps Im asking a bit much for their to be 30,000 this Saturday, but with Charlton bringing a fair few down, surely its not too much to ask for 3-4000 stay away Saints fans to come along and give their backing and boost the crowd to around 27k plus, after all this is a promotion run in, the manager, the players, the chairman and perhaps more importantly Markus Liebherr need to see that the supporters believe in them.

This is not just another rant about crowd figures, I recognise that everyone has the right to put other priorities ahead of watching Saints and that many will have perfectly acceptable reasons not to go on Saturday be they financial or family related, however this is the most important game of the season and everyone has to ask themselves whether they are a Supporter or merely a fan.

A supporter is by the very term supportive of the team and gets behind it, especially in its hour of need whereas a fan will merely come along when it suits them, that doesnt make them any worse a human being, its their personal choice and of course sometimes by neccessity we are merely fans due to reasons of finance etc.

So with every game a "Cup Final" whilst a play off spot is achievable, its definately a time that the Club needs people through the turnstiles, of course the 44,000 tickets showed that the potential is there, but potential doesnt mean a thing in bread & butter league games, Luton sold a similar amount of tickets for the JPT last year and have the best support in the conference, although even that is barely League 1 level.

Lets show Markus Liebherr & The players that in Southampton "Support is for life, not just in cup finals"          

NB. This type of article usually provokes a few rabid responses, mainly from those whose conscience has been pricked, if you wish to comment make it a sensible reasoned one, I accept that its personal choice etc, I am merely trying to raise the profile of this game and maybe put a fewmore bums on seats for it, if I manage to get one person to go who wouldnt have, then at least I have achieved something, Nicola Cortese famously asked Saints fans to bring a friend for a fiver for the Hartlepool game, a offer that wasnt taken up in great numbers, so look on this as an extension of Cortese's, I am merely encouraging a few friends to pop along on Saturday, surely thats what any good supporter would do    

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