Saints have to concentrate on football now after the press frenzy over Spygate. They have fee off the energy as Boro did in the first half at the Riverside, but be clinical in their finishing and ensure that book their place at Wembley to take on Hull.

Tonda Eckert & his Southampton team need St Mary's to be a cauldron of noise and as it was for the visit of West Brom two years ago at the same stage of the play offs, an atmosphere that puts pressure on the opposition and makes it hard for them to get their game together.

On Saturday in the North East, Saints faces a hostile atmosphere as Boro fans ramped up the noise and vitriol after the Spygate allegations, in truth it would have cracked a lesser team, but such is the spirit that Eckert has built in his squad, we didn't crack, we defended stoutly and we finished the game strongly.

Kim Hellberg and his men will know that, they are saying all the right words, but deep down they surely must feel that they had their chance at the Riverside and failed to take it.

Over the past three months Saints have been the form team, whilst Boro took just 19 points in 15 games, form that is very much lower mid table and it cost them dearly.

Hellberg's outbursts after the match on Saturday, showed a man under pressure and having played his trump card to rile up the home fans and his team on Saturday and not broken Saints, it is hard to see how he will motivate his team as they head South.

Theirs is a fragile confidence and we have to blitz them on the pitch and in the stands, as we did against West Brom.

The big question is what team Tonda Eckert will put out, I would imagine that the goalkeeper & back four will be the same as up at The Riverside, Daniel Peretz, James Bree, Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Ryan Manning.

In the central midfield trio you would expect Caspar Jander & Finn Azaz to start, but will Flynn Downes step down and Shea Charles get the nod in place of him.

Out wide Leo Scienza is a definite on the left, but on the right Tonda Eckert has a dilemma , does he stick with Tom Fellows or restore Kuryu Matsuki on the right.

Up front I expect Ross Stewart to start, given that there is a pattern emerged where Stewart & Cyle Larin rotate each game, but also due to up at Boro, we got more in the game once the Scotsman came on.

That was a case of using the guile of Stewart, rather than the physical presence of Larin, Boro seemed able to match him, albeit on many occasions through holding his shirt, but once Stewart came on he just pulled them out of position with a series of clever moves.

But the truth is Boro know that as the game goes on, we get stronger, we never give up and that is due to the quality that we have on the bench, no matter who is playing, as on Saturday when as their legs tired and they were bringing on second string replacements, we had the likes of Stewart, Charles, Matsuki & Edozie who got on the pitch and Archer, Bragg, Quarshie & Wellington who didn't.

Not to mention Elias Jelert Oriol Romeu, Mads Roerslev who are all experienced Internationals who didn't & of course Jay Robinson, a very talented player whose time will come.

Tonda Eckert has taken them & built them into the best team in the Championship bar none over the past four months.

So if I was Kim Hellberg and his men I would be worried, but this is football and we have to mix confidence and skill and not turn it into arrogance & complacency.

There is a word of warning, no one gave Hull City much of a chance, the Tigers had taken just 6 points in their final 6 games of the season and only a win on the last day of the season enabled them to get into the play offs and even then they needed results elsewhere to go for them.

They went to a Millwall side who had gone into the final day of the regular season with a chance of automatic promotion and who where in form.

It did not go to form and now we take on Middlesbrough for a place at Wembley to take on Hull City and not Millwall as everyone was suspecting and if I was Kim Hellberg I would be pointing this out to my team at 7.50 pm tonight as they prepare to leave the dressing room.

The evening will start with the Saints team bus being welcomed to St Mary's somewhere between 6.15-6.30pm and we have to make sure that no lines are crossed and that Middlesbrough have no grounds to try and take us to task once again.

I suspect that pyrotechnics may well come into play in the pre match despite the fact that the club has asked the Saints supporters to refrain from using them.

This will be hard outside the ground, but it is important that they are not used inside the ground, two years ago Saints were sanctioned for their use after the game and also the pitch invasion at the final whistle.

Whilst I want to see a vibrant atmosphere at St Mary's, I do not want anything to happen that will once again rear up and bite us up the rear, you can read what Southampton FC have requested using this link Middlesbrough Match Day Information

The message is keep things safe, not just for yourself, but for others, but the message is also that we need to bring the noise.

On Saturday at the Riverside their fans did just that, there wasn't a silent Boro supporter in the house, not all of them were stood up singing and shouting, but they all offered words of encouragement to urge their team on.

That needs to happen this evening, I understand that not everyone will want to sing and shout, but we can all urge the team on, too often watching Saints I see people just standing there, it even happened at Boro on Saturday, I respect that, but sometimes you have to step up a little and saying "Come on Saints" a little loudly now and then should not be beyond anyone's capabilities.

We used to have some special evenings under the lights at the Dell, but we have had many similar occasions at St Mary's as we prepare to celebrate our 25th anniversary in the stadium.

We have celebrated the 50th anniversary of our 1976 FA Cup win this season, lets celebrate the 25th anniversary at St Mary's in style with a packed crowd roaring the team on and a win that sees us back at Wembley for the second time this season, fighting for a return to the Premier League.

Photo: Action Images via Reuters