It didn't go completely to the script for Saints, but they came back from being a goal down, to take the three points and give themselves a fighting chance of getting out of the relegation zone, this verdict could be titled Nathan Jones & The Temple Of Doom.

You could feel the tension in the air as you walked towards Goodison Park and the feeling was that this would be the last ever League visit for Southampton, that at least one of these sides would not be in the Premier League next season.

But the hope for the travelling Saints fans was that their team was one that has had their bad run and now they are ready to win football games and go on a good run, two wins in cup games in the past week had given the optimism for that, but now it needed to be done in the Premier League.

Although the atmosphere was tense, the Everton fans were determined to give their team their full backing during the game, their team bus arrived to a big welcome with pyrotechnics and banners, usually seen across Stanley Park when Liverpool play big games.

Inside Goodison, you could cut the atmosphere with a knife, but the backing for the home team was there, the Everton players looked ready to go for it and our job was to make sure that they didn't get a grip on the game and that we took control and then imposed ourselves on the game.

Initially things went to plan, it was an even game with both sides having their moments in front of goal, as half time approached it looked like Saints would be happy at the break going in on level terms and could then start to turn the screw.

But things took a turn for the worse when an Everton corner saw the ball headed home, it was hard to pick out who was meant to be marking Onana, but he got in a free header from close range and we were a goal down.

It wasn't the final drama of the half, James Ward Prowse almost scored with Jordan Pickford getting a hand to the shot and turning it on to the post.

At half time the mood was not buoyant amongst Saints supporters, so much so that a fair few missed the equaliser and had to pour up the stairs and into the stand to join in the celebrations as James Ward Prowse took a superb knockdown from Che Adams in his stride, went round a defender and slotted home giving Pickford no chance.

Now the game had changed, but it could still go either way, both sides still had chances, but the one that went in came with 12 minutes to go, Everton gave a away a needless foul on the edge of the box, then came a bizarre moment, the referee gave the free kick, but the position he indicated was several yard from where it appeared to have occurred, it was more central and this gave JWP a better position for the free kick.

Everton fans after were livid, they thought JWP had moved the ball, but it was definitely the ref who picked the spot, although seconds later it was Ward Prowse picking his as he left Pickford rooted and put the ball over the wall and into the goal, if I was an Everton fan I would be questioning Pickford's positioning, but I wasn't i was just celebrating with the rest of the away section.

Everton tried to throw everything at us, it was long ball all the way and their big men in the box, but we dealt with it well and could have increased the lead with a series of breaks.

The final whistle sparked two different reactions, where we were stood it was complete ecstasy as the team pushed their manager to the front to take the plaudits, but around us it was the total opposite, things were going toxic.

This was a big big win, in terms of League position it changed nothing, but the three points drew us level with Everton & West Ham and within two points of 4 other teams, we are the team in form and coming up on the rails, this could be a big advantage,

It was very much a team win, it would be hard to deny James Ward Prowse the accolade of man of the match, his two well taken goals aside, he led from the front and this was as good a game as he has ever played.

Those who criticised him earlier this season should note that he now has a more forward role, for the first part of the season he had to sit deep and play a different role, now Nathan Jones has changed the formation, Romeo Lavia and Ibrahima Diallo now sit deep and JWP has more licence to get forward and influence the game both in terms of goals and chances.

But it is not just this that has improved, the back line has been tweaked, Duje Caleta-Car has taken the central role and he is better suited to it than any of the other defenders, the team now seem to be getting used to the formation that is being employed and what is needed to make sure that it works well.

Critical to that are the wing backs, they have to make sure that the defence isn't exposed down the flanks.

It's not perfect yet, but we are getting there, Everton are not the best team in the division so we shouldn't get too carried away, but Jones is using his squad and starting to use it well.

The right substitutions were made at the right times , Adam Armstrong coming on for Samuel Edozie on the hour mark along with new signing "Charly" Alcaraz, changed the game, we looked far more threatening and the pace of both players unhinged the home team.

The final trio of subs in the 85th minute brough fresh legs and meant that Everton could not get a head of steam up for a big finale.

So a big win for Saints and one that should take some pressure off Nathan Jones, in football a week is a long time, at noon on Saturday 7th, it was fair to say that not many had much faith in the Welshman, by 1pm the anti Jones chants started in Selhurst Park, yet a week later he has three straight wins under his belt.

I said a week ago that sometimes there has to be a catalyst that sparks change and that the protest at Palace might just do that, this prediction seems to have come true, at least in the short term, but it does give us the hope that we can get something out of this season, no one at Palace gave us a hope of much in the next three games, yet here we are in the 4th round of the FA Cup, the semi Finals of the League cup and only two points off of safety in the Premier League.

I have always maintained that a lot of our issues this season have not been the quality of the squad as a whole, but injuries in key areas and of course the need for a striker that can score goals like he is shelling peas, not that anyone shells peas much anymore.

Hopefully now we can move forward, but we need to take note that like the Everton fans we need to back our team and for that matter all of our team and not get on the back of certain players.

I note that on the player ratings on here, most of our starting line up got more marks than Adam Armstrong, yet on the BBC website Armstrong was our top scoring player, likewise Diallo, he was low scoring, but a key player in holding the midfield.

The team that Jones has picked in the past 3 games has the right balance, as Lawrie McMenemy once famously said, in any side you need violinists & you need hod carriers, Diallo & Adam Armstrong fall into the latter category, they don't do the spectacular too often, but they do the basics and they work their socks off to make sure that the so called Violinists can strut their stuff.

At Southampton, too often although we praise the Violinists, we fail to recognise the contributions of the hod carriers, we remember the one or two bad balls and forget the 89 minutes of graft.

The Saints supporters up at Goodison Park were superb, they gave great noisy backing and stayed behind the team throughout, they were the 12th man.

Finally Nathan Jones, in 7 days he changed the perception of him, it is still early days, but he now deserves to be given a chance, yes one win in the Premier League out of 5 is not a good start, but we have to put the four defeats down to finding our best team, in the past week, it seems that the manager now knows a lot more about his squad and their abilities.

The good news is that whatever your views the squad now has two more players in it than before, both look to be improvements, so that has to be good.

A great result and a great battling team performance in what was a lions den, we didn't let it fluster us even when a goal down, we have reasons now to be optimistic.

Photo: Action Images

AmericanSaint added 22:12 - Jan 16 Well that was a heck of a game. Salisou was unlucky on his header as it was heading to the bottom corner until it hit Coady's head and deflected right to Pickford. Was disappointed in their goal as we have shown that we do not defend corners well, but the response was very positive. JWP forcing Pickford to make a heck of save just before HT was encouraging. The the 1st JWP, set up by a great chip from KWP to Che, who knocked it down to JWP was excellent. After that, we had the bit between the teeth and looked solid for most of the half. Then the patented JWP free kick and we are ahead. Everyone put in a shift and I think it was a total team effort that got us the win. Now comes the true test, can we replicate the intensity, commitment and desire against VIlla. If we put it all together again, we can win and climb out of the basement and put everyone on notice that the Saints aren't going to roll over for anyone. Time to roll up the sleeves, put in some hard work on the training ground and get prepared fro Villa. COYR.

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philboyer added 08:04 - Jan 17 What a week for the Saints and Nathan Jones . The players seem to be buying into NJ’s front foot aggression and he seems to have worked out 4231 is our best shape with the option to shift into the 352 to see out a game . Pushing JWP up the pitch , getting Lavia back , playing Caletta car and getting some better luck have all contributed to the about turn in fortunes . Beat the Villa and add a Centre forward this week and we can really start to believe the great escape is very much on. For the Villa game I’d like to see Orsic starting instead of Moi and we need to have a plan to deal with Bailey . Keep the rest of the team that started at Everton and we can win 3-1 .

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TimSaint added 22:54 - Jan 18 Re the JWP free kick, he took it about 1 yard further back and a foot towards the centre than where the foul was committed. No big deal. The ref sprayed his line and the ball was placed to the right hand side to gain a few extra inches. As he kicks it, the Everton number 19 decides to go backwards towards the line, but he is too late and the ball flew over him and into the net. Lovely. Anyway, Everton fans can have no complaints. Surely they remember that injury time equaliser against us at Goodison in May 2018. They had a free kick deep in the left back position, by the corner flag, yet were allowed to take the kick far more than 10 yards further forward and more central. They hoofed it up and eventually scored. I call that justice.

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