Another game of deja vu with glimpses of what might have been with moments of good play undone by poor goalkeeping and defending, at least Ruben Selles did look to the future with his squad selection, sadly it looks like he will not be a part of it himself.
In my preview I suggested that Ruben Selles look to the future and perhaps give youth a chance, he seemed to have got the message with both Dominic Ballard and Kamari Doyle listed in the substitutes along with Tino Livramento who ironically made his comeback at the same ground that he has been carried off on 13 months ago.
He also started James Bree who I have also suggested might be an asset in the Championship next season.
But on the pitch is was the same old same old, Saints could have been 2-0 down before they got started, Brighton missing a couple of golden chances before they eventually scored in the 29th minute, the ball going under Alex McCarthy's body.
If Saints thought they could hold out and regroup at half time then they would be mistaken, they were caught on the break just 5 minutes before the break and again it was not good watching.
At half time the travelling Saints supporters knew they had watched a pile of dross by a team that were disjointed and seemingly leaderless, they had adopted a defensive strategy of letting Brighton have the ball in their own half and not pressing, it was not working and to be blunt we could have gone in four down at half time.
Ruben Selles didn't make any changes at half time and then suddenly out of the blue just before the hour mark came an unlikely comeback, Saints won a corner and Moi Elyounoussi who wasn't exactly getting a warm welcome from the Saints fans deftly headed home.
That gave Brighton a little bit of nervousness and Saints thought they had equalised, they counterattacked and Theo Walcott looked to have done everything right, holding his run, cutting across the chasing defender and slotting the ball past the keeper.
The celebrations in the away end were cut short by VAR which after a lengthy delay drawing little lines managed to find a small part of Walcott's toe offside.
That knocked the stuffing out of the Saints revival and it was no surprise when Brighton scored a third with 20 minutes left.
Cue multiple substitutions by Selles, on came Adam Armstrong & Sullemana for Charly Alcatraz & Elyounoussi and what the fans applauded Dominic Ballard for Joe Aribo.
On 77 minutes as Brighton looked to make sure of the game came the return of Tino to again please the Saints fans and with 6 minutes left Kam Doyle for Romeo Lavia.
The game finished with Saints beaten and not routed and they could truly have given Brighton a game if that Walcott goal had not been chalked off, but they didn't !
In truth this was not a game where Saints didn't put a shift in, the problem was that they were disjoined and with changes in the side yet again it was a team where those in it weren't really sure of their job and what they should be doing.
That has been the story of the final three quarters of what will surely be Ruben Selles tenancy as manager, tactically he has been found out, in his initial games he worked with the same small group of players who knew what their jobs where and we got some good results, but he was not a steady hand at the helm, whenever times were tough he panicked, that meant multiple changes from week to week in the starting line up and then in the second half all 5 subs being used in a short period of time which again did not aid come backs but put the team out of sync.
The summer will bring further change, Selles is a dead man walking and it is surely not good from the Club that they seem to have already decided who their man is, leaving Selles in an embarrassing position of having to go through the motions whilst the media talk of his successor already have been appointed in all but the signature on the paper.
No wonder the team started with so little motivation early on in this game, what on earth was Selles supposed to say to his team to motivate them, although I do not think he is the man to take Saints forward, I do feel that he was dropped into this job with little back up from the club in terms of an experienced man to offer him advice and now they have dropped him in it again, expecting him to run the squad with the Sword of Damocles hanging over his head.
Why have the club done this, why are they rushing into appointing a successor rather than taking their time ? I think they are looking to make a splash in the final game of the season by unveiling the new man, I think they are sadly underestimating the wrath of the Saints supporters if that man is Russell Martin, if they do think of unveiling him at St Mary's against Liverpool it could be very embarrassing for all parties.
As one fellow Saints fan in the seat behind me said "This could all have been avoided by not sacking Ralph Hasenhuttl" He had a point, certainly if he had stayed then Hasenhuttl would have done no worse than Selles or Jones !
To finish on a high note though, fair play to the Saints supporters, although they made it clear at the right moments that they weren't happy with the situation, during the game they stayed behind the team and gave some good support, the fans will be crucial next season we have to have a siege mentality and be behind them from the start, I read on social media stories of fans trying to sell their ticket for this game as they couldn't be bothered, that is their choice, but those that did go and that seemed to be the major majority of those that bought tickets, they more than made up for those missing.