What might have been for Richards

Walsall midfielder Matt Richards heads to Southampton with the Saddlers wondering what might have been – but has no regrets his big money move never happened.

The Saints launched a £3million raid for him and Darren Bent in 2003 while the pair were still teenagers at Ipswich – an offer which was swiftly rejected by the Portman Road chiefs.

Richards stayed with the Tractor Boys until his release last year, then moving to the Banks's Stadium on a two-year contract.

Now, preparing to face the club he could have joined in a multi-million pound deal, the 25-year-old has no regrets over his career path.

He said: "When I was 18 they put in a bid for me and Darren Bent – but probably most of it was for him!

"It was rejected straight away and I didn't have a chance to speak to them, I heard it had happened, but it was gone straight away.

"They were in the Premier League at the time and I had actually gone to watch them in the FA Cup final that year when they played Arsenal.

"I don't mind it never happened, I'm enjoying my football here and it's going well."

Richards has played in every match this season – the only member of the squad to do so – after being bombed out of Portman Road by Roy Keane last year.

The wide man has now rediscovered his enjoyment of the game, after becoming a mainstay in Chris Hutchings' side.

"It's really important to me and I'm enjoying every single minute, there's nothing better than playing on a Saturday and Tuesday.

"There's no point in being a footballer if you don't want to play when it comes to match day.

"I've had a lot of good years but playing every game is important, I enjoy being around the lads and being up here."

But Richards' first season with Walsall has been tainted with frustration after inconsistent results and performances.

Wins at Bristol Rovers and Leeds were swiftly followed by defeats to Oldham and Yeovil and the player reckons they are due another good performance tomorrow.

He said: "Against Bristol Rovers we showed good resilience and Leeds too so they are the performances we have to mimic but it's disappointing to lose to Oldham and Yeovil, no disrespect to them.

"As a team we should beat sides like that and should be higher than we are. Southampton is going to be a tough test but everyone is positive.

"They've got a great team so we have to play our best but we can get something. We've beaten Leeds and are only team to win there.

"If we can win there I don't see why we can't go to Southampton and get something."

Tuesday's 1-0 home defeat to Yeovil was met with derision by the Walsall faithful and Richards hopes the Saints will take them lightly following a poor performance but expects an onslaught from the first whistle.

He said: "Anything which will help us is fine by me, but I think they will come out all guns blazing and try and put us to bed. We haven't conceded many goals recently so we have to keep it tight and if we keep a clean sheet I'm confident we can score.

"We have to keep going, we've dug in well in the past and I think we can get something."

With Walsall fans set to invade on St Mary's for the Saddlers' first visit to the stadium, Richards admits the team owe them a performance.

He said: "Whatever the occasion we should put a performance in and it wasn't to be on Tuesday. It was disappointing for us, the fans and everyone involved.

"It was a minor hiccup and now we can go on another run, in the last month we've put in some good performances and we can do it again."

Richards should have Jamie Vincent alongside him in defence, while Darryl Westlake is also set to shake off a calf strain.

Peter Till, Dwayne Mattis and Sam Parkin are still out, while Rhys Weston may not be risked after returning to training on Thursday. Steve Jones could return after missing the Yeovil defeat to be with his sick wife.

The Saints have Dan Seaborne available after a knee injury, but Lloyd James and David Connolly are sidelined and boss Alan Pardew is wary of becoming another big victim of the Saddlers.

He said: "They won up at Leeds and that is the game that we are focusing on as that is a big scalp for them to get.

"We have watched that as a really good performance from them, and we can't afford that to happen to us, so we need to make sure that we know them inside and out.

"That's what we will be doing over the next couple of days and making sure that we emphasise our very good players on them and not the other way round.

"What we have now is pressure that we have put on ourselves because we have had two great cup runs and had pushed ourselves up the League, but we have faltered a little bit through drawing games."