SAINTS boss Tonda Eckert refused to rule Leo Scienza and Ross Stewart out of the next match after they missed out against Norwich City.
He added that the attacking duo were “close” to making the squad that managed a 1-0 win against Championship play-off chasing Canaries.
Scienza and Stewart were both substituted early in last week’s 1-1 draw at West Brom, and did not travel to league leaders Coventry City either.
Saints face relegation-threatened Oxford United at St Mary’s on Saturday, before the international break sees league football paused for a week.
“It was close and we will try to push for Saturday to see how the next days go, but let’s hope that they are available for Saturday,” Eckert said.
Ahead of the match, Eckert claimed both Scienza and Stewart had joined team training and that they were pushing to be involved against Norwich.
Star midfielder Flynn Downes was withdrawn after 65 minutes of the game, having previously produced a man-of-the-match showing at CBS Arena.
The former West Ham man was booked at the start of the second half and went on to commit his third foul of the game before he was brought off.
Eckert explained: “It’s tough sometimes. It’s a tough call, but I thought the only thing that we couldn’t afford was to go a man down at one point.
“Then it was one more foul, and then I saw him pulling out of one tackle where he could have gone in, and he didn’t go in anymore.
“Then it’s always the thought process of do you wait for another one, or is another one already too much? So it was just a decision today.
“I didn’t want to take the risk, I just wanted to play it safe.”
Discussion about this post