SOUTHAMPTON skipper Claus Lundekvam sees tomorrow's Championship clash with Ipswich Town at St Mary's as one where the Saints will have to “roll up our sleeves”.

By Elvin King

SOUTHAMPTON skipper Claus Lundekvam sees tomorrow's Championship clash with Ipswich Town at St Mary's as one where the Saints will have to “roll up our sleeves”.

“It is a massive game for us,” said the Norwegian defender who was 34 yesterday.

“After Tuesday's defeat to Coventry, it is even bigger than it would have been.

“We need to bounce back after the disappointment of losing and must roll our sleeves up and get a result against Ipswich.

“It is difficult to say what went wrong in the Coventry game.

“If we beat Ipswich it will be six points from the week, which is pretty good.

“We are still in a decent position, but we would have liked to have been better.”

Southampton manager George Burley led Ipswich Town to the Premier League via the play-offs in 2000, and he admits that this is his only realistic chance of promotion open to the Saints this season.

Burley said: “The defeat at Coventry was a big blow for us as far as first or second place is concerned, but our aim at the start of the season was to finish in the top six and that has not changed.

“We can still achieve that but we need to keep winning games.

Southampton have two ex-Ipswich Town players in their squad - goalkeeper Kelvin Davis and utility player Jermaine Wright.

A third former Town man - Chris Makin - is struggling with a hamstring problem, which means Chris Baird could start as Alexander Ostlund damaged ankle ligaments in the 2-1 defeat at Coventry on Tuesday.

Free-scoring Pole Grzegorz Rasiak has started the last two games on the substitutes' bench - with Andrew Surman scoring a hat-trick in the Saints last home game.