There weren't many Saints fans predicting that their team would get a point at Old Trafford, even less those who thought we would keep a clean sheet, but the team put in a performance the travelling fans could be proud of.
There will be some who will claim Saints should have had all three points because United spent around 55 minutes playing with only 10 men, but that would be both unfair and more to the point uncharitable.
Sometimes it can be just as hard to play against 10 men as the full 11 and from a Saints perspective we don't like playing against teams that sit back and go on the break, and that was very much the tactics that Erik Ten Hag's side had to employ for large chunks of the game.
Ruben Selles made only the one change from the win over Leicester, back came Romain Perraud in place of Ainsley Maitland-Niles who not being on the bench must have picked up a knock.
But that meant a switch round with Kyle Walker Peters moving from left to right back and Perraud coming in on the left.
United were obviously keen to get off to a good start and put the memories of their last Premier League outing behind them, but it was clear that Saints were in no mood to lay down and let them walk all over us.
United might have poured forward in the first half hour, but in the main Saints coped in that first half hour when it was 11 V 11.
Indeed they got forward themselves well and they should have taken the lead before the red car for Casemiro, Theo Walcott meeting a superb cross and heading it powerfully and on target, De Gea produced a brilliant save, you could not blame Walcott, he got in a good header on target, but if he had got it a foot either side and De Gea would have had no chance.
But Saints had already set out their stall long before the sending off, they were going to give United a game and make them work, this was our free hit and although we did not want to expose ourselves at the back, we didn't want to lose.
It was a game of two great saves for each keeper, De Gea following Walcott's header in the first half by stopping a shot from the same player when he was straight through.
At the other end Gavin Bazunu had perhaps the best game of his Saints career so far, he made a superb save in the first half reading the crossed ball well and being on hand to block the shot and then in the second getting a fingertip to push the ball on to the inside of the post and across the goal for a corner .
But Bazunu was very good in all his work, coming off his line to deal with through balls on several occasions and in general just being the goalkeeper we needed.
But it was a team effort, in front of the keeper, Armando Bella-Kotchap marshalled the defence well, Jan Bednarek showed that despite the issues earlier in the season, he was back and ready to fight for the team, Kyle Walker Peters was superb down the right flank and almost scored a screamer, the ball rebounding off a post and Romain Perraud digging in and letting no one down as United's main attacking threat came down our left.
Romeo Lavia and James Ward Prowse did not let United's midfield dominate and indeed made sure that in the second half we kept them mainly quiet.
Theo Walcott got a standing ovation from the Saints supporters when he departed the field on 85 minutes, he might have lacked a little of his old pace, but his experience told and he had our best two chances as well as his off the ball running creating space for those coming in behind him.
So overall we can be pleased with this point, but we can be pleased with yet another clean sheet, the cynics will point to United losing a man to the red card, but that is not the point, not every team that goes down to 10 men loses the game.
The good thing was we kept our shape and made it our 3rd shut out in 4 games, something that no one would have predicted just a month ago, we now have a foundation to build on and Ruben Selles has brought a discipline and a belief in the team that certainly wasn't there under Nathan Jones.
Sadly we have slipped back to the bottom of the table, but we did more than it was expected that we would do this weekend and in any relegation battle you have to focus on your own game and then worry about the opposition.
This we did, we took a point in a game where we were not expected to, we pulled nearer the likes of Palace, Wolves & Leicester City, only Bournemouth & Everton pulled further away.
We just have to keep plugging away and as I said last week, we have to look at it in 3 game tranches.
Over our last three games we have got 4 points and that is bang on where we need to be, but the big game now is the visit of Brentford to St Mary's on Wednesday is crucial, it is a chance to get three points under our belts and truly post a letter of intent to those who fought we were dead and buried a month ago.
We have nothing to fear, we have more points from our last 6 games than all in the bottom 9 aside from Bournemouth & Everton who have the same total as us 7.
That will bring fear to those looking over their shoulders and now we have to capitalise, we have done more in the last couple of months to change what got us into the relegation fight in the first place.
But the time for talking is past, now we have to do it on the pitch where it matters and Brentford is a big big game.