Lee Holmes - Southampton: Exclusive PFA interview

Given Nottingham Forest’s recent revival towards the foot of the Championship table, Southampton’s victory against Barnsley was even more crucial following a hard-fought 1-0 win at Oakwell last Saturday. The Saints have been given a further boost with the return to full fitness of midfielder Lee Holmes after the 21-year-old was sidelined for over two months with a knee problem. Holmes, who joined the Saints on a free transfer from Derby at the start of the season, actually became the Rams’ youngest ever player when he made his first team debut for the club against Grimsby in 2002, aged just 15 years and 268 days. Givemefootball’s Mark Shail spoke exclusively to Holmes ahead of this weekend’s clash with Doncaster.

HOW IS YOUR KNEE FEELING AT THE MOMENT?
It’s fine now and I feel good although there is still more improvement to come in terms of my match fitness. The injury took a little longer to heal that expected but I’ve been building things up slowly and hopefully I can now stay fit for the rest of the season.

WHAT WAS THE PROBLEM WITH THE KNEE?
I picked up some medial knee ligament damage and spent two months out but I didn’t require any surgery for that particular problem. However, I also had a little bit of cartilage damage which didn’t heal as well as the specialist had hoped so I then had to have a minor operation to repair that. It’s frustrating because I played the first eight or nine games of the season and now it feels like I almost have to go through pre-season training all over again.

YOU MUST HAVE BEEN DELIGHTED WITH THE WIN AT BARNSLEY LAST WEEK?
It was a great result and just what we needed. We’ve played much better this season and lost but it’s important that we learn how to grind out results and win ‘ugly’ sometimes. Successful teams don’t always play to their best but they know how to win matches. There are around six teams separated by just five or six points in and around us so a couple of victories on the bounce could really make a difference.

THERE HAVE BEEN SUGGESTIONS THAT THE SOUTHAMPTON SIDE IS A LITTLE TOO INEXPERIENCED – WHAT IS YOUR REACTION TO THAT?
It’s true that we have a lot of young players in the side and many of us have yet to play 100 senior games. But having said that, a lot of those players have now been involved in 15 or 20 games so far this season and hopefully that experience will hold us in good stead for the second half of the campaign. We are all learning all the time.

YOU HAD A NUMBER OF CLUBS INTERESTED IN YOU WHEN YOU LEFT DERBY, WHY DID YOU CHOOSE SOUTHAMPTON?
I actually had a spell in Holland last season and that’s probably where Jan Poortvliet and his staff first saw me play. He spoke to me when he took over at Southampton and told me what he thought my role in the team was going to be and I was impressed with what he had to say. I also spoke to the chairman and everything just felt right, they are a massive club.

AND IT’S ANOTHER POTENTIAL SIX-POINTER TOMORROW AGAINST DONCASTER?
The games have been coming thick and fast and the next fortnight is crucial for us. We play Doncaster this weekend and that match is followed by a game against Norwich, another side that are down there. A couple of wins from those two games could make the league table look a lot healthier from our point of view.