Perhaps the best performance of Saints season so far as Manchester City were brushed aside on a day where all the other results went for us.
Saints fans in the pubs watching the other results coming in on Sky Sports before they headed to St Mary's had a lot to cheer about and cheer they did with optimism not being that high for the main game of theday against Premier champions Manchester City, result after result went our way as all the teams below us and those just above us lost with even the Norwich V Fulham game being a draw leaving both clubs only two points above us.
So Saints fans headed towards St Mary's knowing that the pressure to get a result was eased a little and perhaps this was in the minds of the players themselves as they played without fear or awe of their illustrious opponents and quite simply put them to the sword.
The first goal on 7 minutes was a little fortunate in that as Hart and a City defender blocked Jay Rodriguez the ball fell for Jason Pucheon who had started the move and finished it with aplomb, fifteen minutes later and a shot from Rickie Lambert looked easy for Joe Hart but he had one of those moments even the best keepers have from time to time and let it slip through his arms and Steven Davis was alert and poked the ball home from close range under pressure from a City defender, from then on Saints were in the driving seat but Saints being Saints they had to give City a lifeline, a corner on 39 minutes looked like it might be dangerous, it was but sadly for us the danger was on us and not the visitors, we tried to be clever and played the ball long to the edge of the area but we got caught and as City broke our defence clearly wasnt as organised as it should have been and Dzeko finished the counter attack he had started.
But if Saints fans feared that the second half might be a bit of a backs to the wall performance then they were wrong, three minutes after the restart Lambert broke down the right and looked to have nothing on and crossed more in hope than anything else, Barry finished for an own goal that was bizarre in that he had plenty of time to do anything else but sidefoot it past his own keeper.
From then on the result was never in doubt, it perhaps didnt feel like that at the time, but on reflection Saints were strong in all areasand took the game to their opponents at the right times.
The only moment that City looked like they might get back in it say Artur Boruc make a superb save to push it past his left hand post and that was it for the visitors who didnt like Saints pressing high tempo game one bit.
So did City play badly or did Saints play that well ? a bit of both really once Saints showed they wouldnt roll over then City did just that themselves, they played like a team with nothing to play for, so I would say this result was perhaps 80% how Saints played and 20% City's own lack of enthusiasm, although as stated we had to knock the stuffing out of them first so even that 20% was down to our hard work and endeavor.
What I like about the way Maurricio Pochettino sets up a team is that he gets the foundations right first,he wants to play a pressing game so there was no place for Adam Lallana in the starting line up, it was about matching City for workrate first and this meant that our central midfield players were key, Schneiderlin and Davis set the tone and Davis especially showed why he has been back in the side of late, he wins the ball and moves it on quickly creating attack in a moment.
But those two werent alone, at the back we were strong and a special mention to Jos Hooiveld who had probably his best game of the season, his only slack moment coming in the second half ironically at the verty moment I was half way through commenting to the man next to me what a good game he was having, but it was a real team performance and a great win that puts us six points clear of the drop zone although that could reduce to four if Aston Villa beat West ham this afternoon.
So Saints fans left St Mary's buoyant and with every right to do so, our problem ahead of this game was our failure to beat anyone above us in the league apart from Newcastle who sat one place in front of us come kick off, by 7.30pm on Saturday night we had still only beaten one club above us, but that club was second place Manchester City as we leapfrogged Newcastle on goal difference, so this wasnt just about the result but it was about proving we can beat more than just the relegation fodder.
This was a gigantic step forward in our season and if we can come through the vital game at Newcastle in a fortnight unscathed then we will be turning into the home straight and that safety finishing line will be in sight, there is still a long way to go though but this great result perhaps shows we are up to the task.