It was a cold Wednesday evening with the temperature hovering above freezing, but Saints fans turned up the heat to cheer their team on against Norwich City.

Those Saints fans who yearn for those years of "real" football in League One a decade ago, would have got a feeling of deja vu in St Mary's for the game against Norwich, the hard core was there and determined to support the team and not sit back and moan.

The Itchen North was the heart of the noise along with the Northam End, but all the crowd responded, perhaps it was the empty seats usually filled by those whose usual method of support is anguished cries of "For F***s sake Saints" that meant we lost a little bit of inhibition, but in the last 25 minutes the crowd rose to the occasion.

Ralph Hasenhuttl had said his team had to give the fans something and then he hoped they would respond and this turned out to be the case, the team got a two goal lead and the Saints supporters were determined their team would not lose it and drove them on.

If you weren't there then I feel sorry for you, a season is 38 games and not just one, over my years of following Saints most games are fairly inconsequential, but you live for nights like last night were it is all about what being a football supporter is about, a game with plenty on it and roaring your side on, it is what we go to football for.

When West Ham arrive in a week or so they will bring a big noisy contingent and we need to match that and more.

Of course there will be people who could not make it last night for genuine reasons, but there were certainly plenty who just could not be bothered and prefer to moan about value for money and entertainment or lack of investment, ask Everton fans this morning how much their Chairman has invested ?

There were 25,000 Saints fans at St Mary's last night who know just what I mean, it is not playing in League One they fondly remember it was the fact that we supported the team at it's lowest ebb in our lifetime and we were all better for the experience, last night it was just like 2010 again.

In the past how good a supporter you were was judged purely on how many games you went to end of story, now that seems to have changed, how many tweets you have to your name seems to have taken over and matter more.

Last night was about enjoying being a Saints supporter again.

There will be those that will slag me off claiming I am no better supporter than them, they are right, everyone there last night was an equal, Southampton Supporters and that's all, none of them will question what I am saying, but you had to be there to understand it.

NB: I know many who weren't there last night due to other commitments, we can't all go to every game.

Photo: Action Images

A1079 added 15:11 - Dec 5 You kind of beat me to it Nick. I was going to write/start a thread about whether it was just ageing nostalgia on my part, but I sense, since the debacle against Leicester City, that rather than collapse, we seem to have found our support and real fans again. That rather than try and hang the manager and team in shame, we seem to have collectively circled the wagons and come together. I certainly felt that at Arsenal and to some extent against Watford and definitely last night. The results and effort has helped and always say, these things are a catch 22 with one feeding of another. I am not foolish to think that suddenly everything is alright - far from it and we need to remember that all we have done is beat 2 teams that are the same as us or marginally worse, but had we lost them, I think realistically we would have been finished in the PL. I am also not exonerating that there are issues off the field that have had a negative impact on this season. But, I never thought our true fan base were bad. We don't get carried away when we have a good run and don't go into a melt down when things are not so good.

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dirk_doone added 15:27 - Dec 5 The home support is always so much better when there are very few away fans in the Northam . That was the case in League One and that was the case again last night. Usually, our home singing sections in their two small groups are drowned out by thousands of away fans in one big group. Also, sound carries much more when the stadium is not full. You'll hear 300 fans much more clearly in an empty stadium than you will 3,000 in a full one.

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PatfromPoole added 16:42 - Dec 5 Forza Itchen North!!!!
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PatfromPoole added 16:44 - Dec 5 By the way, I completely agree with Nick. It was a proper game last night, as much as I have enjoyed a game for a long time.
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WalkingRosie added 20:07 - Dec 5 Patrick is our leader Patrick is our leader La, la, la, la La, la, la, la
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TripleNiemi added 20:30 - Dec 5 Must admit with work, train strikes and stress levels at present i really struggled to muster enthusiasm before the game yesterday, but boy was i glad i made the effort and simply didnt take the easy way out and head home from work. The support was spot on last night and before certain factions could start to get on the teams back, i think others sensed this to get the support going, and loudly. We can do it, just a shame our song repetoire is shite although some tried to get the new Ingsy ditty going.

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