Soccer: Howey gives City toe-hold on Premiership safety

Steve Howey is determined to secure a foothold for Manchester City in the Premiership - by playing on with a broken toe.

The gritty defender overcame his distaste of injections to have a jab before the 1-0 win over his old club Newcastle at St James' Park last week.

Now he is prepared to go through the same routine against Southampton on Saturday and until he is free of the injury.

Manager Joe Royle said: "Steve will have another injection on Saturday. He has trained on alternate days this week.

"He has also spent time with the physio and in the hydro pool. Steve will continue with this programme for several weeks until the toe heals.

"We don't want to turn him into a pin-cushion just for the sake of a training session.

"With some players no matter how little pain they get, it can linger on their mind. Steve put that behind him last week and was outstanding."

That victory ended a barren run for City but it still left them in the bottom three.

However they could move out of the danger zone if they defeat Southampton and Middlesbrough lose to Charlton.

City's problems this season have stemmed from their poor home form, which has seen them lose eight Premiership games at Maine Road.

Royle said: "We need to start taking our chances, although I think there has been a big improvement since Christmas.

"We got a big boost at Newcastle and I get the feeling the fans do believe again.

"I don't think the morale has been that bad and as you can imagine the mood has been buoyant this week.

"We've now got the chance of a double against Southampton but they got the result of the week by beating Middlesbrough after losing to Tranmere in the FA Cup."

Striker Paul Dickov is pushing for a place in the side after recovering from a knee injury.

He came through 90 minutes in the reserves in midweek against Bury without any reaction but Royle looks likely to stick with the partnership of Shaun Goater and Darren Huckerby.

Goater got the winner against Newcastle and has formed a good partnership with Andrei Kanchelskis, who is loan from Rangers.

"Andrei has helped my game," said Goater. "He is such a threat to defenders.

"We worked hard against Newcastle and now we need to do it in front of our own fans.

"I am not sure why we haven't been performing at Maine Road but it is something we have to sort out.

"Our fans have been brilliant and personally I love playing in front of them. "