Just when they needed to Saints put in a calm and commanding performance to totally dominate the game from start to finish and put themselves on the very cusp of a return to the Premier League.
The problem with supporting Saints and i would suppose the older you are, the more that this applies, is that sometimes from game to game you just never know what you are going to get, over the years we have had an annoying habit of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, so after West Ham were given a chink of light last weekend, its fair to say that although on the outside Saints supporters up at London Road exuded confidence, on the inside they had a gnawing feeling.
The needent have worried though, with the fans in fine voice from the start of the game to the very finish, the team was not going to allow it self anything other than total dominance and the three points that aligned with a grest result at Bristol City widens the gap between us and third to five points and five goals.
Nigel Adkins held firm with the 11 that started against Reading and he was right to do so, at the moment this is the best side we can put out and it did not need tinkering with, within five minutes Saints had the game by the scruff of the neck and the home side knew that they wouldnt let go, Danny Fox did again what he does brilliantly and that is deliver inch perfect balls into dangerous areas, be in from open play or dead ball situations, this time it was a corner and Jos Hooiveld knew exactly where Fox was going to put it and made sure he was there, four minutes later and the advantage was doubled and it was another case of a player doing what he does best and this time it was Billy Sharp who receiving the ball in the penalty box fired home from close range.
These two goals emphasised that this is a team game and its about each player doing what he is in the team for, its about end product, be it delivering the ball into the box or putting it in the back of the net, with a two goal cushion the rest of the team also did its job and did it well, going forward we looked dangerous and defending we looked composed and comfortable, at the break Saints deserved their lead and could have scored more.
In the second half Posh came out with renewed vigour and Saints had to be alert to make sure that the hosts didnt get a way back into the game and after getting to grips with the game Saints hit the third and killer goal as far as the home side were concerened and once again it was Billy Sharp who did what he does best and the game was firmly in our control.
All Saints had to do now was make sure they didnt do anything stupid in the last half hour and they didnt, Peterborough however didnt give up the ghost at this stage, it has to be said they played with the gay abandon of a team with nothing to play for either in the season as a whole or this game in particular, Saints had to keep working to ensure that they didnt get that chink of light, sadly eventually they did, for once Saints got caught cold and couldnt seem to stay focussed, a great save from Davis looked to have weathered the storm but from the resulting corner we didnt mark up at the far post, but with four minutes left it was too little too late.
Picking a man of the match would be hard, every Saints player on the pitch would be a candidate, if you asked ten Saints fans they would perhaps give you ten different answers, so good was the overall team performance, some would say its only Peterborough and they are in poor form, but that would be missing the point, Saints went into the game needing to put a bad run of results behind them and when the chips were down and needed to put in a shift they all did.
All in all a great nights work from both the players and the supporters who were immense and never stopped singing for the entire game.