When it comes to Saints’ hopes of qualifying for the Champions League, there could have been few more encouraging sights than Graziano Pelle finding the back of the net last weekend.

The striker slammed home a low shot in the closing stages of the 2-0 win against Hull, ending his 14-game goal drought in the top-flight.

It was an agonising, and at times head-scratching, run in which the Italy international struck the woodwork four times, while drawing one of the saves of the season, from Everton’s Tim Howard.

It is no surprise, therefore, to Pelle that he can’t recall a more frustrating period in his career.

“No,” he exclaimed. “Maybe when I was young.

“To see so many woodworks, so many chances that didn’t went through.

“For a striker especially, it’s not always the best, but I’m a positive guy.”

The charismatic forward is not one to console himself with any suggestion of being unlucky, though.

“On one side, I would say that having all those chances [was] giving me the right feeling that I’m always there,” he said.

“But, the other side, I say ‘Graziano, come on, OK, you’ve got so many chances, but please score some.’ “Hitting the post, or maybe the save from Howard, on one side we can say that it was an amazing save, or it was an unlucky post, but on the other side, in my opinion, I will always say ‘OK, Graziano, you should do better in that position.’ “I have to try to combine the two things. Of course, you can be unlucky sometimes, but on the other side I want to try always to do the best and score goals.

“Now, finally, I did the goal, but I want to keep going.”

Pelle hopes his strike against Hull will spark the sort of run he went on early in the season, when he scored nine in ten games during a sensational spell that lasted from August to October.

But he insists that he would sacrifice all personal glory in a heartbeat, if it meant Saints finishing in the top four.

Pelle said: “For me, now, if they will say ‘You won’t score any more goals until the end of the season and you will go Champions League’ I will sign now and say, ‘OK, I won’t score anymore.’ “But, on the other side, I would like to score and do the same.”

The 29-year-old’s mission might be helped by today’s return to Stoke’s Britannia Stadium, where he has fond memories.

Pelle scored twice there in a 3-2 Capital One Cup win in October, netting a jaw-dropping 30-yard thunderbolt before scrambling home an 89th-minute winner.

“It was a nice night,” he said. “I remember the amazing goal that I did.

“It was not easy to play there. We were winning 2-0, then 2-2, and after we win at the end.

“They never give up, they are always a team that is really aggressive, it’s a team that in a physical way they try always to beat the opponent, then we have to be ready, because, for us, any points count for the end of the season for any position.”

And could that position even be one that earns Saints a Champions League spot?

Saints may be faced with a five-point gap to fourth place, currently occupied by Manchester City, but Pelle has not given up hope of bridging it.

He is refusing, however, to set a target of how many wins in their final six games Saints will need.

“I’m not really thinking about how many points we need, because I would like to see game by game,” he said.

“I know if we win this game we have three points more, and the others they have to play some against each other too, and we have the good things that we’re going to play against Manchester City in the last game.

“It’s going to be, I hope, an exciting game, because it means we are there really close to them too.”

Indeed, while there has been much talk about how many points Saints will need, Pelle knows all that matters is trying to manoeuvre themselves within striking distance for that trip to the Etihad Stadium, on May 24.

“It would be special,” he said. “It’s going to be a dream.

“But, again, I have confidence. Since the first day, I always told you that we have an amazing team.

Southampton is a kind of surprise for everybody, because it’s not the team everybody’s expecting, like Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea.

“But we know that we have quality enough to try to do something special.”

Pelle added: “It’s not going to be easy, but we will try to make it.”

If they are to do that, Saints will need their top scorer, who has banked 13 goals for the club following last summer’s move from Feyenoord, to be firing on all cylinders.

The signs are certainly positive on that front, with Pelle confident he has overcome the struggles that seemed to coincide with a lack of a winter break for him.

“I thought it would be easier, because it’s just three games more, but on the other side I have to be honest that the body a bit feels this when it comes January, February,” he said.

“If you’ve got small problems you don’t have so much time to recover, but I never like to find excuses.”

Pelle added: “To be honest, in February, I had a review of the game in September, October.

“It was my first selection for my national team and I saw that I was physically a bit more alive, a bit more brilliant in that way.

“Again, it’s not easy to say you want a rest, because football is so beautiful if you don’t have a real problem – it can be a small tiredness, it can be a minor irritation – I never say I want rest, because I think always on the top.

“Now I feel really fresh and I want to again finish this season in the best way I can for me, for the team, for the club, supporters, everybody.”