It was a patched up Saints side ravaged by injury & suspension but the one thing that was not missing was fight and Saints dug in and deserved what was a precious win that lifted them out of the bottom three.
Ralph Hasenhuttl was missing Bertrand, Lemina, Ings & Obafemi through injury, Hojbjerg and Austin through suspension and Yoshida to International duty, add to that the departed Gabbiadini and that is 8 less than he had to choose from a week or two ago.
That meant that only Cedric on the bench had any significant Premier League experience and Elyounoussi the only other true top flight experience elsewhere.
Indeed of the other 5, Slattery had yet to make his Premier League debut, Ramsey had played only once and Sims, Gallagher and Gunn 6 starts between them, perhaps the most inexperienced bench in Saints Premier League history.
The first shock of the day was the change in goal again with Alex McCarthy returning, this was a strange decision in that Angus Gunn had looked good in his two game run in the side and if McCarthy's original dropping was felt harsh by some, then this was harsher, but Ralph Hasenhuttl is a man not afraid of making changes.
The game started well for Saints though they looked strong in the early stages and were good value for their lead on 11 minutes when Shane Long hustled and bustled chased a through ball he had no right to win and was hauled down for a penalty.
Saints were now firmly in control and attempts on our goal from the home side were non existent aside from one scrambled effort that Bednarek cleared well before it reached the line and the fans were soon showing their displeasure with their manager.
But perhaps the game turned when Yan Valery blatantly dived in a way that must have had Jamie Vardy applauding in admiration, that riled up the home side and put Valery in the referee's sights.
That meant a soft first booking that cost him and the team dearly on the stroke of half time when he was sent off for a second red card in a handbags at dawn incident.
But there was one final act before the half time whistle, a long clearance saw Long chase down another lost cause, shrug off one defender and then from a tight angle slot the ball past Schmeichel who could only get a hand to.
The second half was predictable, it was mainly played in Saints own half and it was truly backs to the wall and dig in, a performance straight out of our mid 90's relegation dog fights.
hat is a compliment in that back then our sides had character and fight, we stayed up because of that and we have that again instilled us by Raplh Hasenhuttl.
We would have lost this game before the Austrian's arrival and indeed at any point in the last 2 1/2 years, we might have a few weaknesses still in the squad, but we will cover that with the spirit showed at Leicester and the increased fitness levels that kept us going right to the end.
Leicester had 72% possession, they had 23 attempts on goal, but they had only 6 on target, their scrambled goal, Bednarek's clearance and a diving save from McCarthy were three of them, despite this possession the home side rarely turned it into anything that troubled us due to our resolute performance.
Strangely I think the sending off helped us in a way, Leicester rely on getting Vardy in behind the defence, we had to st so far back that there was no space for that, they couldn't expose our lack of pace and we dealt with everything else.
It is hard to pick a man of the match, this was a true team effort, the BBC had Jan Bednarek as their man of the match, Shane Long would also be a contender for the way he tirelessly battled as the lone man up front and won the penalty and scored the winner.
Long has had major stick from some corners, but yesterday he played his part, just as he did at Crystal Palace in the win there, his detractors have been quick to forget that criticise them, hopefully they will not be able to do the same with this game.
Ralph Hasenhuttl seems to have a very strong squad ethic, it is about unity with everyone playing a part as he showed when bringing on Callum Slattery at a time in the game when we were expecting the final onslaught.
On reflection we saw that out with the ease that we had handled the previous half hour, it didn't feel like that at the time though, but this was one of those games that you go week in week out for to say you were there, the euphoria at the final whistle was made all the sweeter by being there through some awful performances earlier in the season, we kept the faith and now that is being repaid, it is now about having faith in the likes of Shane Long to battle in every game, if they do then we have nothing to worry about.