Alan Pardew will have three aims for the Brum game.

The first aim Alan Pardew will have for his side against Birmingham City will be to continue the shoots of recovery that where apparent in the home game with Brentford, OK the result was a trifle disapointing but Pardew must have been heartened by the general play, both defensively and in attack where his team created more chances in one game than they had in the previous three in the league.

Secondly he will be looking for the players to regain their confidence and put up a good display in a game where they most definately start as underdogs, it will be about the nature of the result more than the actual scoreline.

Thirdly he will be looking for a win, to be honest this is the least of his worries, Saints arent going to win the competition, and of course a good run would be great, but on Tuesday night winning the game will be the last thing on Pardews mind, no matter what he might say publicly.

Pardews problem though is that both Dean Hammond and Neal Trotman are cup tied, both having played in the first round, Trotman scoring against Morecambe for Preston, this is of course a set back for AP, he will know just how much these two improved the side on Saturday and out of the team against Brentford are probably the two that he would have least liked to be without, however it does give a chance for others to show they are still in contention.  

But of course a Saints win is possible, after all it was only last year that they put the same sidde out of the competition and although there are now two divisions between them, Saints will feel they are much improved on this time last year whilst Birmingham probably wont put out a full strength side. That being the case a surprise could very much be on the cards as whilst Saints havent set the league alight yet, the feeling on Saturday was that they are now creating chances and when they start to take them someone might just suffer.

But a win will as I said be a bonus, its the League that matters and it will be all about getting the team to gel, Alan Pardew hasnt had much chance to mould his side yet but he will feel that he is a lot nearer than a fortnight ago, a good performance against the Bluse will set us up nicely for the visit to Edgeley Park   

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