PAUL Hakim has given Saints fans an early Christmas present with the news that he should be available to play more often. The former Stevenage man has been absent for a large part of the current campaign after accepting a promotion at work during the summ

PAUL Hakim has given Saints fans an early Christmas present with the news that he should be available to play more often.

The former Stevenage man has been absent for a large part of the current campaign after accepting a promotion at work during the summer that required him to work weekends.

However the striker's circumstances have changed and he returned to the Saints starting XI picking up the Man of the Match champagne for his performance in Saturday's 2-0 win over Bromley, his first Saturday appearance of the season.

The striker didn't get on the scoresheet but played a significant role in both Saints goals before heading off to start another shift at work immediately after the game.

"Hopefully from here on in, it'll be every other Saturday as long as the journey is not too far because I've got to get off to work now - I start at 6pm," Hakim told the Herts Advertiser following Saturday's victory.

"Basically every home Saturday game I'm going to try to be at and hopefully every midweek game as well. When I can, I will be here."

Hakim admitted he's missed playing for City and revealed he's been playing football locally in an attempt to keep his fitness levels as high as possible so when he's available for the Saints he's in as good a shape as possible.

"I've tried to do a bit, I've been playing at a local side and trying to get as fit as I can, because when I come down I want to be at my best.

"Work's hard but I do miss it and I'm trying to get back into it as much as I can. I want to play at the highest level possible for as long as I can. I'm trying to do as much work as I can off the pitch, but game time helps and it's another 90 minutes under my belt."

Hakim was happy to pick up the Man of the Match award but insisted it was all about collecting the three points.

"It was nice, it's obviously more important that the team got three points, I suppose I'm not 100 per cent fit but I did my best, I probably should've scored but we did well and I think we deserved the win.