Mauricio Pellegrino took this game very seriously and saw his side cruise into the last 16 of the FA Cup with a morale boosting win.
Victories for Saints have been very scarce of late, so when one arrives it should be seen as a plus point, you can only beat what is in front of you and a strong Saints side saw this game through with very little trouble.
Jack Stephens won the game with the only goal in the 4th minute following a great cross from Ryan Bertrand and the Watford keeper saving Shane Long's effort with Stephens prodding home the rebound from close range.
That gave Saints control of the game meaning that they didn't have to chase it and could play their own game, to be fair they really should have put it beyond doubt on more than one occasion, but not having done so they seemed to control it with ease for most of the time.
Ryan Bertrand pulling up just before half time was a worry, but he seemed to stop dead and not aggravate the injury which is key to recovery, so hopefully it should not be a major problem.
This lead to the first substitution and agan it was slightly puzzling with Jeremy Pied coming on meaning we had two right backs on the pitch with one playing out of position, Pellegrino prefering that to a back four reshuffle.
But the second substitution on 67 minutes was baffling to the extreme, Pellegrino took off an attacking midfielder in Boufal who was having a decent game and brought on a central defender in Yoshida and went five at the back with three central defenders, it seems that if the manager was trying to second guess that the visitors would start to sling high balls into the box he was right, but there was no need to give the a gilt edged invitation.
The last twenty minutes saw us pinned back in midfield due to being overun and Watford had a lot of room on the flanks to get down them and get in crosses.
But if the first two you could see the point of to a degree, the third trumped the lot, on came Guido Carrillo and off came another midfielder in Tadic.
Carrillo being a centre forward you would have assumed that Shane Long who has the legs would have dropped back, with Carrillo looking to be holding the ball up, but Long stayed up front and Carrillo seemed to be running around in a free role just behind him.
Meanwhile we had three central midfielders but no one out wide giving Watford the room to get in crosses.
Pellegrino still seems to struggle with making substitutions, that is a worry, a big worry, there was no need to bring on Yoshida, unless you were going to take off a defender injured and reshuffle, both Hoedt and Stephens were coping well and having good games, all bringing Yoshida on did was cause chaos in terms of who should be marking who.
Similarly the final one showed little tactical nous, I could see why he would want to bring on Carrillo, we all wanted to see him, but play him in the position that you have signed him for, it did the player no favours, he clearly wasn't suited to the role he was being asked to play and it left us short.
But the main thing was the result, both in terms of progressing to the last 16 of the FA Cup, but more importantly getting used to winning games and gaining confidence, OK two have been FA Cup games but we are now unbeaten in four, we now need to step it up in the Premier League and win a couple of games, do that and we will pul clear of the relegation zone and it might just become a decent season after all with a good FA Cup run.