It wasn't pretty to watch, but the truth was in this game only the result at the end of the game mattered and it was Saints who were triumphant at the end with Che Adams scoring the goal that took us out of the bottom 3.
Lets be honest this was never going to be a game that saw Saints suddenly click into gear and go into overdrive, Bournemouth had their heads up and were going to be full of confidence after an unbeaten run that had seen them soar up the table.
Ralph Hasenhuttl's team selection didn't win universal praise amongst the travelling support pre match, but it was a team to dig in and win the match and combined hard work with some attacking flair.
After a tense start with Bournemouth looking to get an early goal it was the visitors who silenced the home fans with a superb headed goal after a great cross from Romain Perraud.
That gave us confidence but it was still not going to be easy, however Saints were driven by the central midfield duo of James Ward Prowse & Ainsley Maitland-Niles working hard to nullify a lively Bournemouth midfield.
Strangely some Saints fans are giving JWP low marks for his performances of late, I am not one of them, most seem to be judging him on the position he was playing earlier this season and last, but with no Lavia his role has been changed, he now sits a lot deeper and has to win the ball more, that means he doesn't get the chance to get forward so often, such is his versatility, he can adapt to this position and he rarely lost a tackle or header and covered every blade of grass, but this is at the expense of him having freedom to play going forward, when Lavia returns so will the old Ward Prowse, but meanwhile he is doing a great job.
So was Maitland-Niles, he too is having to adapt to a role he hasn't usually played, but he is growing into it with every game.
At the back Duje Caleta-Car held the back line tight and played a big part in our first clean sheet of the season.
The only black mark of the day came on 64 minutes when bringing on Lyanco for Joe Aribo caused an outburst of abuse at Ralph Hasenhuttl from a small section of the away support, in truth this was a logical substitution in many respects, I respect the right of everyone to have an opinion, but I am sorry that was not the time to air it, the team was 1-0 up and battling hard, yet some seemed to ignore that and almost want their own side to be beaten to prove a point.
But the tactical changes worked as we had to revamp the back line due to an injury to Kyle Walker Peters and in truth it was seamless substitutions.
As the game dragged on Saints looked more comfortable, yes the Cherries were getting more of the ball but we seemed to be able to cope comfortably, late on Ralph again brought on fresh legs to see out the game and in the latter stages we looked more likely to score than the home side.
The only late blip came deep in injury time when Gavin Bazunu failed to gather cross and the ball had to be hacked clear, but apart from that Bazunu looked solid and deserved his clean sheet.
The final whistle saw Saints fans elated and those that weren't disappointed as it meant that the manager wouldn't be sacked this week and there were more than a few of them sadly, celebrated what was not a game that was a joy to watch, but was one in which we had seen a team roll up it's sleeves and play for the manager, those who say that Ralph has lost the dressing room had no evidence on this performance, every member of the team including the subs put in a shift.
Now we march on, it is not going to be an overnight fix, but it was a big step forward, the 3 points took us up to 14th, it also gave us a view of what could have been, if we had got just three more points in that 5 game winless streak, then we would sit 9th or 10th this morning, OK we don't, but it shows that we are not that far away from chasing a top 10 spot.
Hard to give a man of the match on this one everyone played a part, I won't be in the majority here, but I give it to James Ward Prowse who played a Captains game, he played in a deep position and sacrificed his only game for that of the greater good of the team, he put away his silky skills, rolled up his sleeves and grafted, he led by example and the others followed, that means his impact has lessened in the attacking sense, but he has put the team first and that is good.