Toppled Saints need to put their dismay to one side

Front-runners for most of the season, the Saints were unseated by Reading on Friday night, with the in-form Royals winning 3-1 at St Mary’s to vault to the top.

Promotion now looks a certainty for Brian McDermott’s side – bettering West Ham’s result against Nottingham Forest tonight would see them up – and it may be left to Southampton and West Ham to battle it out for second.

Lambert’s side hold a three-point advantage over the Hammers with three games left but, with West Ham having hit Brighton for six on Saturday, the signs are ominous.

And, with that in mind, 31-goal striker Lambert wants his team to get their act together at London Road tonight.

“The lads are obviously a bit gutted, but we’re looking at the next game now because we want to get promotion out of this league,” he said.

“We are going to chase Reading, so we’ve got to focus on Peterborough now so we can try and take three points from them.”

Southampton will take on a Posh side still needing a point to secure survival, while West Ham head to Bristol City, who are still not sure of another season in the Championship.

Saturday’s drubbing of Brighton ended a torrid run of home results for Sam Allardyce’s men, but the veteran manager does not want them to rest on their laurels.

“We can’t let complacency slip in,” he said.

“We’ve got to get up and go again on Tuesday night. It’s towards the end of the season and we can’t afford any slip-ups that will waste what we did on Saturday.”

Play-off places are assured regardless for Southampton and West Ham, and Birmingham could join them by winning at Ipswich.

While all that drama is unfolding, Reading could go up should they better West Ham’s result.

At the other end of the table, Portsmouth could be relegated even if they win at home to Crystal Palace.

The cash-strapped club beat Doncaster on Saturday – relegating Rovers in the process – but could still join them in League One if they lose, or if they win and Bristol City do also.

Coventry are the other side currently headed for the drop. They are four points shy of Bristol City and could be all-but down if they lose at home to Millwall and the Robins win.

Leicester and Burnley meet in a mid-table match with nothing at stake but pride while Brighton must beat Watford to keep their slim play-off hopes alive.