Just when they needed to Saints put in a calm and commanding performance to totally dominate the game from start to finish and put themselves on the very cusp of a return to the Premier League.

The problem with supporting Saints and i would suppose the older you are, the more that this applies, is that sometimes from game to game you just never know what you are going to get, over the years we have had an annoying habit of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, so after West Ham were given a chink of light last weekend, its fair to say that although on the outside Saints supporters up at London Road exuded confidence, on the inside they had a gnawing feeling.

The needent have worried though, with the fans in fine voice from the start of the game to the very finish, the team was not going to allow it self anything other than total dominance and the three points that aligned with a grest result at Bristol City widens the gap between us and third to five points and five goals.

Nigel Adkins held firm with the 11 that started against Reading and he was right to do so, at the moment this is the best side we can put out and it did not need tinkering with, within five minutes Saints had the game by the scruff of the neck and the home side knew that they wouldnt let go, Danny Fox did again what he does brilliantly and that is deliver inch perfect balls into dangerous areas, be in from open play or dead ball situations, this time it was a corner and Jos Hooiveld knew exactly where Fox was going to put it and made sure he was there, four minutes later and the advantage was doubled and it was another case of a player doing what he does best and this time it was Billy Sharp who receiving the ball in the penalty box fired home from close range.

These two goals emphasised that this is a team game and its about each player doing what he is in the team for, its about end product, be it delivering the ball into the box or putting it in the back of the net, with a two goal cushion the rest of the team also did its job and did it well, going forward we looked dangerous and defending we looked composed and comfortable, at the break Saints deserved their lead and could have scored more.

In the second half Posh came out with renewed vigour and Saints had to be alert to make sure that the hosts didnt get a way back into the game and after getting to grips with the game Saints hit the third and killer goal as far as the home side were concerened and once again it was Billy Sharp who did what he does best and the game was firmly in our control.

All Saints had to do now was make sure they didnt do anything stupid in the last half hour and they didnt, Peterborough however didnt give up the ghost at this stage, it has to be said they played with the gay abandon of a team with nothing to play for either in the season as a whole or this game in particular, Saints had to keep working to ensure that they didnt get that chink of light, sadly eventually they did, for once Saints got caught cold and couldnt seem to stay focussed, a great save from Davis looked to have weathered the storm but from the resulting corner we didnt mark up at the far post, but with four minutes left it was too little too late.

Picking a man of the match would be hard, every Saints player on the pitch would be a candidate, if you asked ten Saints fans they would perhaps give you ten different answers, so good was the overall team performance, some would say its only Peterborough and they are in poor form, but that would be missing the point, Saints went into the game needing to put a bad run of results behind them and when the chips were down and needed to put in a shift they all did.

All in all a great nights work from both the players and the supporters who were immense and never stopped singing for the entire game.

Photo: Action Images

stmichael added 10:28 - Apr 18 One of our great strengths this season is how we bounce back from dissapointment and i believe the manager must take great credit for this. He does not panic. He could quite easily have dropped Fox and Chaplow last night however he trusts his players and they repaid him. Being picky we do not seem to have that fierce desire to keep a clean sheet that I would like. It was a sloppy goal to concede and you feel we are ALWAYS likely to do that at any time. Nice to see you defending FOX Nick however I would point out that a 34 year old called HARTE delivers a better ball , defends better and cost absolutely nothing. I am glad Nigel stuck by FOX yesterday and I am sure he will improve under our guidance. He needs to if he is going to play in the premiership.

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ThereIn76 added 10:50 - Apr 18 Well done Saints. Two goals in the first ten minutes was a perfect response after the Reading match. Saturday will be interesting. Cardiff play first, then Blackpool and Birmingham kick off at 3pm. If Cardiff and Blackpool win and Brum at least get a draw, Middlesbrough will start the match knowing that they cannot get in the play-offs. Not an ideal mindset. And if Crystal Palace turn the form book upside down at the Madejski – that would be the icing on the cake. Aren’t you glad Nigel Adkins is Saints’ manager and I’m not!

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Horndeansaint added 10:54 - Apr 18 My 2 sons and I had a good feeling from the time we awoke yesterday. Spiderman recovering from being skated on, Coventry sold out and the rain clearing. Well eventually at about 7.15 and after some insane near London traffic on the way up. Indeed a great night to be a Saints fan on a good old fashioned terrace. Our debate on a much easier journey home focused on the midfield which picked up the scraps much better than of late and turned up with some great challenges, Cork, Hammond, Chaplow and Lallana take a bow. It gives us that engine room at both ends of the pitch to break up the opposition's play and create our own. As suggested above though, it would be unfair to pick out any individual and whilst SRL didn't have the best of nights, he was still at the heart of many of our best moves. Fill up again guys, weekend in the north east next and hope for party time. Boro' are no great shakes and they could be out of play off contention before our game kicks off depending upon results earlier in the day.

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geezershoong added 11:05 - Apr 18 A really professional performance with great displays from the players all 'round, but for me it also shows how good Nigel Adkins is at getting the players over the Reading game. Put some of my doubts to rest over Billy Sharp also, provide good service & he will more often than not stick them in. Massive credit to the travelling support who willed the team on for the entire game, I think the players really appreciate it. Play like that against 'Boro, no probs, we're up with a big party against Coventry on the last day.

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ElvethamSaint added 11:11 - Apr 18 I totally echo your views your views about being a Saints fan. Yes historically we do always seem to have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory but Nigel Adkins is a great manager and instills a belief in the players - something that hasn't often been seen by us Saints fans. Saints have been brilliant this season - yes there have been a few disappointing results but don't let this take anything away from what has been a truly memorable season. I honestly believe that we can still pip Reading for the title - they've had a great run but it's got to come to an end soon and even if they beat Palace on Saturday, Birmingham away won't be easy. I've watched Saints home and away for a long time and there have been a lot of low points but this is a high point so let's enjoy it. COYR.

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Fordy added 11:16 - Apr 18 A good performance. I'm not sure it really is the best side he could put out though. I prefer to see Richardson to Butterfield. Butterfield and Fox rarely get to the byline and prefer to venture just inside the opponent's half and fire it towards Lambert at the back post. This is fine against the likes of Peterborough but we could do with a bit more variety against the better defence of Middlesborough on Saturday. If we do go up we will need some more pace and variety. Our current long balls to Lambert will be meat and drink to the likes of Kompany and Terry.

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Whatsforpud added 11:27 - Apr 18 Wasn't there last night, but kept an ear on Radio Solent commentary and an eye on West Ham's progress on the Sky programme, willing them not to score again! Nick, I remember an article around the half way mark in the season in which you hightlighted that we had a disappointing away record. We have certainly rectified that now with 3 before Christmas, and 7 since. In fact in our last 7 away matches we have won 6 of them. A better record than in our last 7 home matches.

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OldRed added 12:15 - Apr 18 Regarding 'snatching defeat from the jaws of victory', I always look back to last season's game at home to MK Dons when we were 2-0 down and came back to win 3-2. A defining match for the rest of the season but realised at that point that Saints weren't like the team of old.
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SaintNick added 12:18 - Apr 18 With respect we used to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory against the likes of Man Utd in the premier, Ill compare us to the teams of old when we are once again playing in the top flight, there is a lot of difference between coming back from 2-0 to MK Dons and playing Man United
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bstokesaint added 12:30 - Apr 18 I agree with Fordy, Richardson should definitely be making the first XI. Gutted that I wasn't there last night listening to all the Saints' fans. They definitely didn't sound nervous. The doom and gloom after the Reading game looks now to have blown out of proportion by some fans. NA's attitude is absolutely spot on and the players seem to be responsive to that. There was little in the way of pre match comments from any of the team, which suggested they were focussed on the job in hand. They did an excellent job. Really looking forward to Saturday now. There is still a big job to do. We can't let West Ham have a glimmer of hope now by giving Coventry a chance to absolutely ruin our season. Three points and will be out celebrating in Newcastle on Saturday night!!

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OldRed added 12:59 - Apr 18 NIck: "With respect we used to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory against the likes of Man Utd in the premier, Ill compare us to the teams of old when we are once again playing in the top flight, there is a lot of difference between coming back from 2-0 to MK Dons and playing Man United" In that case why is that relevant if you're comparing it to playing Man Utd when we were playing Peterborough? It's all relative in my opinion, no matter what league.

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saintstowin added 13:10 - Apr 18 the consistency of the last 3 seasons has been behind our success as those heart breaking last minute goals against have been almost absent. we've only had back to back league defeats once all season and when we had others breathing down our necks post christmas (birmingham, cardiff, blackpool etc) our form has been immense to now sit 10+ points ahead of them, what an effort. last night was indicative of what this team and manager is capable of. feet firmly on the ground and not too downhearted after a tough defeat, and outplaying a team we could/should be outplaying. i won't say 'when', but should we secure promotion i may even miss our dominance if it doesn't quite continue at the highest level. it's been fantastic these last 3 seasons. yet i completely trust Nigel Adkins to deliver all that we're capable of whatever division we are in. what a brilliant manager.

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SaintNick added 14:55 - Apr 18 old red, my point was that its differing standards, the teams that used to snatch defeat from the jaws of man utd would probably wallop MK Dons, our teams dont have more steel nowadays they are just playing at a lower standard.
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SingaporeSaint added 16:37 - Apr 18 To be fair I think it is the fans who dont have more steel - because Saints fans have suffered with more failure than success over the years (although arguably we punched above our weight for years in the top flight, playing in a tiny ground and little funding).. Much of our current side have only been together in the last couple of years and in general have performed under pressure albeit at a lower level. I struggled to sleep after the Reading game, was listening in pain as W Ham smashed Brighton and was even nervous at 0-2 yest - I think lots of fans are the same. The good thing is that the players dont seem so nervous to me and the manager appears a positive and calming influence. I think they will deliver and we will make it and I understand the bookies arent taking bets on us to go up which tells you something.

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BlackRod added 18:21 - Apr 18 Is it just me who thought Jos was looking very shaky and at risk of gifting Posh a goal? I thought that was why Nigel brought Aaron on instead with 30 minutes to go. He doesn't usually substitute one of the centre backs. Disappointed at the groans when Chappers made a mistake. He made a big contribution too and there's a fine line between a pass that doesn't quite make it and one that's inch perfect. Relieved to see that Nigel didn't give way to the shouts of Steeeeve from the crowd. Everything was going fine with no neeed for any changes. Bringing on Guly was just to take up time. The crowd seemed to be with Guly this time - perhaps the fickle home supporters are the ones who give him the bird, not the dedicated fans who show up in Peterborough for a cold wet midweek fixture.

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chocolateboxkid added 18:36 - Apr 18 i agree with singapore, as a fan even 2 -0 up i am still nervous,and was no different last night. watching saints for many years has taught me to not take a lead for granted (as in the the pompey match) i am however quite happy for the players to prove me wrong !! but there does seem to be some resolve in this current squad, as in the away day at Millwall. i am sure its NA's positivitey. but i still have grey hair and high blood pressure ! i could watch manu, but that would be easy. COYR Macheeeeeeeeeeeens

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StrasbourgSaint added 08:22 - Apr 19 BlackRod, I agree with your comment about home and away supporters having a different outlook on certain players. I managed to get to Blackpool (talk about picking your moments to travel over for a game!) and was pleased that the fans gave Guly the applause he deserved for a hard-working shift. He wasn't great, but most others had a worse game than him. I think some fans feel they have to be on the back of at least one player. By and large (although not 100%), the fantastic away supporters are more united and extend that unity to the team as well as the other travelling fans. Thus, they are not as prone to whinging or getting on the players' backs. To those who went and to those off to Boro, you are all fantastic Saints.

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bstokesaint added 12:40 - Apr 19 The latter post surprises me really. Not because it's not true, but because historically I think Guly has always been a better player at home. I think it's commendable that away supporters get behind all of their players. That's what every teams deserves. First game tomorrow that I am flying to!!
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