No one said it would be easy, but Saints dug in and found their form in perhaps one of the most entertaining games of the season, could this be a turning point.
Cometh the hour Cometh the man is the saying and that man was Joe Aribo as Saints one again put in a team performance is a game that had more twists and turns than a Mathew Le Tissier goal from the 1990's.
The game could not have started more badly for Southampton, the Blues took the lead after only 2 minutes, there was a very big suspicion of handball about Miyoshi's opening goal of the game.
But Saints soon found their rhythm and went close on several occasions before Adam Armstrong finished with aplomb after a through ball from David Brooks.
It then looked like there would be only one winner, but just before the break came the next twist, a hopeful long through ball might well have gone straight through to Gavin Bazunu, but Jan Bednarek's attempted header took some of the pace of it and it left Stansfield through to lash home and gibe Birmingham a lead at half time that they scarcely deserved.
But after the break Saints kept their composure and two goals in the space of four minutes saw Will Smallbone find David Brooks who cut inside and curled home a glorious goal from outside the box, then Smallbone found Che Adams in the box who after almost slipping fired home to give Saints the lead.
Now we were on top and when 3 minutes later Sanderson was given a straight red for a foul on Smallbone, there was now surely only one winner.
But the game turned again on 77 minutes when Bacuna fired home from close range after the ball had come back off the post, now it was Blues who had the bit between their teeth and although they didn't look like winning the game, they were determined to hold on to what they had.
Cue a triple change and Saints poured forward in search of the winner, but as the 6th minute of 9 signalled for injury time, it looked like Saints had again shot themselves in the foot with some shoddy defending.
But then came one of those moments that we all go to football for, Stuart Armstrong's corner was headed back across goal and Joe Aribo took a touch before sweeping the ball home to sent the travelling Saints fans behind the goal wild.
So a great game that saw Southampton having to show great character to stick to the task in front of them.
Although they had Flynn Downes back in the side, they were missing both Kyle Walker Peters and Ryan, but truth is we have gone from a tight defence to poor organisation and a lack of structure at the back.
During our unbeaten run our foundation was built on having a solid central defensive pairing in Taylor Harwood-Bellis & Jan Bednarek, so why is Russell Martin so keen to keep breaking it up at every opportunity.
Once again Jack Stephens was shoe horned into a back line, but what I can't understand is why he is played in the centre, the back line was fluid, at times it was a back four with Harwood- Bellis at right back and Bednarek & Stephens in the centre and Ryan Manning at left back, but when we attacked that reverted to a back three, Stephens holding the centre and Manning pushing up.
But as was shown in all of the goals, we were vulnerable on the break and players getting caught out of position, unsure of where they needed to be.
We lack leadership, in truth when your captain isn't in the team every week, but is suddenly skipper when he does come in, it is not good for the team's organisation.
If we are going to challenge for automatic promotion we can't keep relying on our ability to outscore the opposition, we have to be tight at the back, our problems stem from the fact that we are not playing our strongest players in the right positions, we are constantly changing the Bednarek/THB partnership up, when that has been our foundation.
I appreciate it is a squad game, but sometimes it is change for change sake and to shoe horn in a player.
But there were also many plus points, David Brooks scored a screamer and also had an assist and showed that the loss of Ryan Fraser can be covered, Will Smallbone is an unsung hero, hopefully, he will get some credit from those who have been quick to criticise him, as he was pushed to the front of the celebrating players at the end, it showed that his team mates know how critical he is to the side, as is Flynn Downes.
We are creating chances and scoring them, our 69 goals being only 2 behind highest scorers Leicester, but the worry is that we are now conceding too many, we have to address that.
We now have a great chance to do so with two home matches this week, we have to bang in the goals, but also cut out the lapses in concentration at the back, do that and the Championship race will swing back in our favour again.