Saints promotion hopes got a boost without them kicking a ball.
Tuesday night could have been a big set back for Saints and they werent even in action, but in the main with most of their promotion rivals due to be in action it turned out quite nicely.
First off Bournemouth's game at Bristol Rovers was postponed, this was a boost for Saints, Rovers were in appalling form and the odds of even a draw looked remote, so not only is there a chance they will be in better state when the game is replayed it also looks to add a fixture pile up to the Cherries in the coming weeks.
But elsewhere it was good, firstly Charlton slipped up by losing 2-1 at Hartlepool, this used up there game in hand and means that instead of finding oursleves two points behind them if they had won, they now stay a point behind without that game in hand.
Likewise home reverses for both MK Dons & Oldham and an away defeat for Colchester eased the position behind us, if the first two clubs had won they would be on level points with us, although they would have both played more games it would have left us open to drop out of the top six on Saturday if we failed to win at Rochdale, a big set back for Colchester as well, they harbour hopes of a play off spot but they now sit seven points behind us having played one more game.
In fact the only result that went against us was Peterboroughs win at yeovil courtesy of two last minute goals, this brings them to within two points as us having played a game more, although they will always be a bit of a topsy turvy side and though they might be a contender for a play off spot I dont think will challenge for automatic promotion.
So all in all a good night for Saints when it looked likely to be a lot worse and see us drop a place, of course its what Saints do that matters but this cant fail to inspire us as we head out on the road for two games that shouldnt be underestimated, especially Hartlepool who saw off the in form Charlton and indeed Rochdale themselves who have a good home record only having been beaten twice, but could move within a point of us if they were to win.
Automatci promotion is now completely back in our hands as long as we get more points per game than our rivals, we just need to put our foot on the gas again and put together a run of winning games.