The Saints are the form team following a 19-match league unbeaten run which pushed them up into fourth place, having almost gatecrashed the top two with a late surge.
Middlesbrough, meanwhile, saw their automatic promotion hopes checked after managing just two wins from their final 10 games.
Australian soccer fans will be hoping for 'Boro to progress from the playoffs and eventually gain promotion to the Premier League with Socceroo Riley McGree a key member of the Middlesbrough squad.Â
Having watched his side slump to a 4-0 defeat to 'Boro on Teesside back in January, Eckert will not be underestimating the challenge posed by Kim Hellberg's men in Saturday's 12.30pm kick-off.
"They have been quite clear in the way they approach the game. I think it is quite clear to see where they have their strengths," Eckert said at a press conference.
"If they catch a good day and they start to flow, I think they are a good team in certain aspects of the game.
"(But) we come from some good weeks and months. In the end it is about getting our strengths on the pitch like we have been doing for many, many weeks now."
With the second leg at St Mary's on Tuesday night, the Saints could be forgiven for thinking heading back down south with a draw would not be a bad result.
Eckert, though, insists that will not be in his team's mindset.
"No, that is not the way we approach games," he said. "At no part of the season has that ever been our approach to draw a game. We will go there to win."
"We will do everything to win, and then we will see where we stand."
