Jermaine Beckford and Rickie Lambert, the two highest scorers in League One, face a fascinating shoot-out at St Mary’s Stadium tomorrow.

Leeds sharp-shooter Beckford and Southampton hit-man Lambert have stockpiled 27 goals each this season, the United ace scoring twice in the 4-1 win against Tranmere on Tuesday night.

The last time the teams met, a goal by Robert Snodgrass was enough to earn Leeds victory at Elland Road on December 19 but Beckford angered manager Simon Grayson by shunning his handshake on being substituted.

That incident has been put to bed by both men after the striker apologised and Grayson is backing Beckford and Luciano Becchio to get the better of Lambert and former Leeds transfer target Lee Barnard this weekend.

Lambert and Barnard have already totalled 50 goals between them this season but Becchio and Beckford have shared seven in United’s last four games.

Grayson said: “It could be an interesting afternoon in terms of which strike pair comes out on top. Hopefully it will be ours.

“All of them have different attributes but I would back my two ahead of theirs every time.

“Jermaine and Luciano have some fantastic qualities and on Tuesday night their work rate, quality on the ball, link-up play and finishing were excellent.

“They know they will have to repeat that on Saturday if we are to win the game. It will be an interesting duel because there is no doubt Lambert and Barnard are good players as well.

“Barnard is someone we spoke about and enquired about but he had the opportunity to go to Southampton and that is where he ended up.

“If we had signed him I am sure he would have brought something to the squad but I am more than happy with what I’ve got at my disposal and hopefully he will have a poor game against us.”

Although Southampton have rattled in five goals in their last two home games – against Huddersfield and Walsall – they lost at Tranmere last Saturday and Grayson says he has no plans to adopt a more defensive approach tomorrow.

He said: “They will feel they can still get into the play-offs and it wouldn’t surprise me if they did. They will have a big influence on who finishes where.”

Goalkeeper Shane Higgs has been pencilled in for a long-awaited comeback in the reserves at home to Lincoln on Wednesday.