Saints made it two away league wins on the bounce at Watford, but again saw their defensive frailties exposed.
A few months ago the complaint was that Saints weren't entertaining, that accusation cannot be levelled at them now with the goals flowing, although the worrying aspect is the number that are now being conceded.
Saints were caught napping early doors and found themselves a goal down after only 4 minutes, but they got back on terms just before the half hour through Dusan Tadic and then Nathan Redmond made it 2-1 in the second minute of first half injury time.
It then looked like only one team would win it but in the final fifteen minutes Watford started to push and again Saints got caught out with 11 minutes to go and the worry was that the Hornets had the momentum.
That almost proved to be the case when Okaka found himself with a clear shot at Forster who saved well and this proved to be the turning point as within a minute Saints were again ahead.
Gabbiadini sent himself into the Saints record books with yet another poachers goal, Gomez should have held Boufal's shot easily but spilled it and Gabbiadini was the first to react poking it past the hapless keeper.
But if you thought that would be the winner with five minutes left to play you were wrong, there were still three goals to be scored in the final 9 minutes including injury time.
That wasn't what the home fans thought when Nathan Redmond made it 4-2 with a fine strike past Gomez who again looked like he should have done better.
Saints then looked to have won it, but their own lack of concentration almost cost them dearly, but Watford's third came a little late to mount a real challenge to make it a truly shock result.
From a plus point side of things, Gabbiadini looks to be the final pice in the puzzle for Saints attacking wise, he seems to have a knack of being in the right place at the right time, but his game is a lot more than just slotting in from close range.
But two players who have been under fire this season from a section of Saints support , Redmond and Ward Prowse have started to blossom in recent weeks and have gone from whipping boys to being essential to the way the team plays.
Going forward we now look dangerous and able to create and score chances, something that was lacking up to the end of January, but Gabbiadini seems to have been that missing link and he is bringing the best out of others around him.
But defensively we are still frail for long periods we defend well, but once again lapses in concentration cost us dearly, Watford only had four chances on target, yet thre went in, none was the fault of Forster, all were about lapses in concentration that let the opposition capitalise.
The reality is that Yoshida and Stephens may be ok for back up, but we need a strong pairing in the middle, if we still had Van Dijk and a Jose Fonte without his head up his arse then I think we might well have won last week at Wembley and indeed would have won not only at Watford but in several games in the last month or so that we lost.
We cannot change the past though, but we can change the future, if we can get Caceres in alongside Van Dijk then we can have a good run to the end of the season.
The result against Watford put us back into the top ten and it has to be our first aim to hold that position at the end of the season, but we want slightly more and there is no reason why we should not look to finish in 8th spot and given the issues we have had this season that would be a great achievement.
That would leave us in good shape for next season if we could bring a couple of players in in key positions.
I have said all season it is about being patient and looking at the bigger picture, Saints are still in good shape and having taken a step or two back in the first half of the season have already made them up in the second half.