GOALS 86 AND 87: April 9, 2012 Crystal Palace 0 Saints 2 Lambert struck twice as Saints moved to the brink of the Premier League. He headed Saints in front shortly before half-time, then completed the win by dropping a shoulder to go past the Palace backline and finish left-footed into the far corner for his 30th – and one of his best – of the season.

GOAL 88: April 13, 2012 Saints 1 Reading 3 A disappointing night for Saints as they effectively lost any chance of the Championship title, but Lambert still had another strike to savour, lashing home a deflected shot that had made it 1-1.

GOAL 89: August 19, 2012 Manchester City 3 Saints 2 Surprisingly dropped by Nigel Adkins, Lambert responded to the snub by scoring within minutes of coming off the bench, striking a beautiful right-foot shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the area for his first ever top-flight goal. The strike had made it 1-1 on a dramatic afternoon against the Premier League champions.

GOAL 90: September 2, 2012 Saints 2 Manchester United 3 Another hard-luck loss to one of the Manchester clubs. It had all started so well, though, as Lambert rose above Rafael to head in Jason Puncheon’s cross and put Saints in front. Robin van Persie’s hat-trick ruined the day, however.