This was a game surrounded by stats, City's 12 game winning run being the main one, the possession stats didn't make great reading, but in the end only one stat mattered and that was the final score.
Manchester City have only failed to win on 5 occasions out of 23 games and Saints have been the opponents in two of those, this was not a pretty performance, but it was gutsy and spirited and we battled for every ball as if our lives depended on it.
There couldn't have been many Saints supporters who took their seats last night confident that they were going to see Saints take even a point from a City side who had won 12 in a row in the Premier League, most just hoped that we would not be embarrassed and would put in a decent performance.
They certainly got that and only 7 minutes after taking their seats they were out of them to acclaim a Kyle Walker Peters goal.
It was a great build up with Che Adams playing a key part in holding the ball on the half way line and finding Oriol Romeu who hit a great crossfield ball to Walker Peters, he laid the ball down the line to Nathan Redmond who took the ball to the byeline and then pulled it back for the marauding KWP to take a step or two and lash it home.
That gave us something to defend and we certainly had to do that as City poured forward for most of the next 83 minutes with 74% possession being the final stat in that respect.
But they didn't have it all their own way and although we were on the back foot we had other chances to win it, Broja being fractionally offside when he ran through to make it 2-0 with the goal being disallowed by VAR, the Albanian from Slough also headed against the post in the second half.
But we knew it would be tough and we would have to step up to the plate and we did, there wasn't one man who shirked his task or gave an inch.
We dug in and battled as if our lives depended on it, Mohammed Salisu was immense in the centre of defence and how well we defended was shown in the stats, (yes that word again) City had 20 attempts but only got 5 on target and when they did get the ball past the back line they found Fraser Forster in fine form.
But we couldn't hold on to the lead and we had one lapse in concentration where we failed to defend a free kick and left Laporte with a free header past Fraser Forster who was left exposed.
With 25 minutes remaining we all knew it was going to be a long night, but it wasn't just on the pitch that we got it right, Ralph Hasenhuttl also made the right substitutions to replace tired legs, Lyanco coming on for Jan Bednarek, to add his steel and energy and Diallo for Stuart Armstrong with 10 minutes to go.
Six minutes of injury time were nerve wracking but we saw them through and a massive roar greeted the final whistle when it came.
As I said Ralph Hasenhuttl played his part, he picked a team to be brave, we kept two up front and had a game plan, he has built not only a team but a squad who play for each other and play for the manager, if we can get a key player or two in the summer we could have some exciting times.
It is hard to pick a man of the match, this was a game where everyone who stepped on to the pitch was a 9 out of 10, however there was one 10 out of 10 and that was Mohammed Salisu, he was immense, he reads a game better than anyone we have had since the departure of Virgil Van Dyk, he is strong and he can tackle, yes he is still a little raw and makes the odd rash challenge, but with every game he gets a little more experienced and a little more composed.
This was a game where he didn't put a foot wrong and made some superb tackles and interceptions, some were easy to see and acclaim, but he also makes a lot of interceptions that look simple, but he has made them so by his reading of the game and ability to cut out balls before they put us in danger.
So a very pleasing result, it felt like a win at the final whistle and it was a great atmosphere in the pub after the game, the evening ending on a bizarre note with Ricky Hatton and a load of his mates clearly not that bothered that their side had dropped two points and enjoying themselves as much as the Saints fans.
So another point and another step up the league and a step forward in this season, now we have to put in another performance like this in our next two games and truly show that we can challenge for a top 10 finish come the end of the season.
But one quick question, why did their shirts have Man City written across the shirts, don't they know who they are ?