It is the start of a new era at St Mary's in the Carabao Cup tonight as Nathan Jones takes his place in the home dug out for the first time, but there is something important at stake and that is a place in the quarter finals of the Carabao Cup.

Saints have a great chance of reaching the semi finals of the Carabao Cup if they firstly can overcome League One side Lincoln City at St Mary's this evening, with the likes of Chelsea, Spurs & Arsenal already out and Manchester City taking on Liverpool in one of the other ties in the round, it could certainly allow one of the clubs outside of the Big Six a chance of a Wembley final this year if the draw goes right for them.

But first up is Lincoln City, they have already paid one visit to the South Coast this season when they drew 0-0 at Fratton Park earlier in the season, however since then their form has been inconsistent, they tend to win a game, draw a game and then lose one in fairly equal measures, they are a tough side to beat and with only 5 defeats to their name, there are only a handful of sides that have lost less.

They are currently in 14th place, but only two points separate them from Portsmouth in 10th and they have games in hand over some of their rivals for a play off spot.

They are a club that we have rarely played over the years, the last meeting was at the Dell in November 1996 in the League Cup, Saints had conceded a late equaliser up at Sincil Bank in a 2-2 draw and fancied their chances in the replay, however it didn't quite go to plan.

Gareth Ainsworth gave the Imps a 9th minute lead and that remained the only goal of the game going into the last 15 minutes, then came a penalty and with Matt Le Tissier already off the pitch to be replaced by Gordon Watson, it was left to Jim Magilton to put Saints level.

10 minutes later it was Watson himself who gave Saints the lead and as the clock hit 90, Eyal Berkovic's shot took a deflection to leave the keeper stranded and Lincoln with no way back.

We had also met the Imps back in 1988/89 season, this was a 2nd round two legged affair and the first game up at Sincil Bank ended 1-1, Paul Ridout giving us the lead before a 77th minute equaliser.

If Lincoln fancied their chances at the Dell they would soon suffer a setback, Rod Wallace fired home after only 4 minutes, but within 10 minutes the Imps were back on terms when ex Saints Gordon Hobson levelled, Graham Baker would be the hero of the night though and his two second half goals saw us through.

Aside from these games you have to go back 61 years to when we last met them in the League and most of the games we have played against them took place over 70 years ago.

So back to 2023, with Nathan Jones spending the first six week of his tenure at St Mary's with no fixtures due to the World Cup and therefore fine tuning his squad, you would think that he will put out pretty much his first choice team this evening in order to get them some competitive match fitness ahead of the the return of the Premier League next Monday.

Given the circumstances I just can't see the point of resting players tonight, get our first eleven out and get them used to playing together after a long break.

It will be interesting to see how much his way of playing will change from Ralph Hasenhuttl's, in Jones's first game in charge at Anfield, you felt that this was not really his team or tactics, but that he had left that to assistant Ruben Selles, not having had enough time to know the team or players.

But now that is different and in many respects this is the first game of his management of the club, the first time he can truly pick the team and call the shots.

So will it be a back three with wingbacks, something he can now do due to the return of Kyle Walker Peters, or will he prefer a back four, in midfield will he have a central three or just two and how will he set out the attack ?

All these are questions that we will get some inkling of this evening and it promises to be an interesting evening.

But the main thing to do is to get a win under our belts and not only our place in the quarter finals, but a big confidence boost before a tough run of games starting with Brighton on Boxing Day.

Photo: Action Images

underweststand added 12:06 - Dec 20 Let's hope that this L1 side aren't too much of a challenge, and that we can score a few good goals ...and let one or two of the Academy lads get some decent game time. I won't predict a score line as my crystal ball is in ....for polishing.
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