As regular readers will know Im a cautious man who believes in achieving one target before moving on to the next, but can Saints now look to 10th place.
A third straight win was just what the doctor ordered for Saints worries about getting dragged into the relegation dog fight again and with other teams around us failing to pick up maximum points it could be a time now to consider what is and isnt achievable this season.
A week or so ago I said that before Saints looked for a top ten finish we should be nearer that position points wise than we were the bottom three and this weekend's fixtures have sorted the wheat from the chaf in that respect.
Wigan and Sunderland lie six points behind us and both have to now be favourites for that third from bottom spot with QPR and Reading seemingly now only a matter of time from being mathematically certain of a return to the Championship.
Aston Villa could still join them, however their win at Stoke not only hauled them clear but kept Stoke looking over their shoulders, although they should be OK.
But for Saints now its a case of looking upwards and although tenth place isnt down to our own endeavors just yet if we keep winning it could be.
It will still be a tough ask, West Ham on level points with us and a game in hand will obviously fancy their own chances and in that respect next weeks game is a 10th place six pointer for us so to speak, but with only six games left the real task will be overtaking Fulham who are two points clear but with a game in hand, or Swansea who sit four ahead, although a win at the Liberty Stadium in two weeks will bring us within a point of them if we despatch West Ham as the Welsh club have no fixture this weekend due to the FA Cup semi finals.
Initially I though Swansea might be beyone us and indeed Fulham, but Swansea have a very difficult last six games, apart from us at home they have to travel to Chelsea and Man Utd plus Wigan who will be fighting for their lives, whilst at home they have Man City and then on the final day host Fulham.
The Cottagers have a tough run in as well in their last 7 games, Chelsea, Arsenal & Liverpool all have to visit Craven Cottage, whilst away from home they go to Aston Villa on Saturday and then also have to go to Everton and as mentioned Swansea, perhaps there only easy tax will be Reading at home who by the time they play Fulham will almost certainly have been relegated.
So Saints can now start to look upwards, but the real question is how many games can we win in a row ? making it four would be ideal, but in our last six fixtures we will almost certainly need to get upwards of 11 points to even stand a chance and that is a big ask.
The win at Reading was methodical and it cant be denied that in recent weeks we have played well, but those who watched the full 90 minutes at the Madejski will also be very aware that defensively we were not all we should have been and that we could easily have been two down due to defensive error aligned with poor finishing and a superb stop from Artur Boruc.
This perhaps highlights why we have struggled for most of the season, we are still at least 4 players short of a truly mid table team and not having to look over our shoulders all the time, of course we will have the chance to put that right in the summer and hopefully we will, but for the time being we have an opportunity so we should try and take it.