Lambert set for 200th Saints appearance
Lambert set for 200th Saints appearance
7:00am Thursday 12th September 2013 in Sport
By Gordon Simpson, Senior Sports Reporter
Lambert set for 200th Saints appearance
Rickie Lambert’s season has already been filled with some treasured memories, and the Saints striker is set to add another one to the list this weekend, as he prepares to make his 200th appearance for the club.
The 31-year-old will move from the hostile confines of Kyiv’s Olympic Stadium, where he played for England on Tuesday, to the far more welcoming surroundings of St Mary’s, as he celebrates his latest milestone, in Sunday’s clash with West Ham.
Lambert has clocked up his double century in remarkably quick time, taking just over four years to reach the mark, which is some testament to his incredible durability.
Since joining the club in August 2009, he has missed just two games because of injury – a 1-0 home defeat to Plymouth in August 2010 and a 1-0 loss at Doncaster in December 2011.
In his 199 games to date, he has scored 104 times, which surely puts the £1m paid to Bristol Rovers for his services among the finest pieces of business ever conducted by the club.
Assuming he plays on Sunday, Lambert will join a select list of players to have reached 200 Saints appearances.
In the post-war era, a total of 47 have passed that mark, meaning Lambert will become number 48.
Of those who have played for the club since the Millennium, only nine have broken through the 200 barrier.
The current squad includes two of those players – Kelvin Davis and Adam Lallana – while Morgan Schneiderlin, who is on 198 appearances, is set to join them later this month.
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