Saints gained a good win at Boro, but did this game highlight just why Claude Puel is under fire from a growing section of Saints support.
The problem with this season has been one of consistency, initially it was due to Claude Puel's rotation policy which saw him always seemingly having to make a change for changes sake and with no regard to the form of the players going out or coming in.
Of late it has been the total opposite with Puel sticking rigidly to a core of 9 players with few changes despite some poor results.
So it was a total shock before this game when the starting line up was announced, Puel made seven changes to the side that started against Arsenal, this appeared to be total madness, in came players that Puel has virtually ignored over the past few months for a game where Saints needed to win if they wanted to ensure a top ten finish.
Martin Caceres came in for his debut after sitting on the bench for the past three months without even a single minute of match action, it was hard to see Puel's logic behind this selection and it appeared to be that of someone who has lost the plot.
The starting line had only four players who would be considered first choice and one of them in Yoshida is only in that category due to the central defensive issues at present.
But perversely it worked, it was a solid formation which suited the players coming in and they seemed to want to show the manager how wrong he had been in his treatment of them.
Ironically the only player who did not seem comfortable was Puel's own signing Sofiane Boufal who came off at half time for Nathan Redmond who himself showed why those apart from a small section of Saints support consider him a real talent.
The game was predictable from the home side, they don't score many goals but don't let in many either and the first half saw Saints keep it tight and be patient, but on 42 minutes they took the lead and it was a goal that last year would have been considered trademark, but this year has been all too rare.
It saw three players who Puel has given little time to despite decent performances combine to show the manager how to do things simply and clinically.
It started with Jordy Clasie playing a lovely ball into the right channel for Shane Long to get on the end of, Long raced on to it and then pulled it back for Jay Rodriguez who dropped off his man and stroked it home making it look easy in the process.
This was a great well worked goal, too often this season we seem to have to pass the ball 10 times before we can start getting direct and get the ball into danger areas, too often we faff around with it in the centre of midfield or out wide, but this concentrated on using the players we have to their strengths rather than asking them to play in a way they are not comfortable with.
The second half saw an even better goal, Nathan Redmond on for Boufal, cut inside and curled a sublime shot into the far corner, at this time it looked like Saints would now go on and score a couple more that would take them above West Brom on goal difference.
Seven minutes later it should have been three when Shane Long missed a penalty the ball scraping the crossbar and going high into the stands.
This seemed to take the wind out of Saints sails a little, and then on 72 minutes Boro pulled a goal back, Bamford allowed a header from close range.
Saints battened down the hatches for the final period although Fraser Forster had to make a smart save in injury time to make sure that Saints did not throw away a game they dominated.
Saints are now set up for a grandstand finish and if they can win the final two games, both at home, there is a very good chance we can finish in 8th place, a great achievement given our issues this season.
But this game highlighted why Puel is under fire, he was willing to risk this game by resting some key players, but all it did was emphasise just where he is going wrong, he has a good squad at his disposal but he has not used it to its potential, instead trying to shoehorn in his own style despite not having the personnel to play it and wholesale changes far too often.
It also showed that the likes of Clasie, Hojbjerg, Redmond, Long and Rodriguez are decent Premier League quality players, and asks the question why Puel has ignored them so often.