Second on Match Of The Day such was the emphatic win for Saints as they walloped Sunderland to boost the confidence ahead of the big day at Wembley in two weeks.
Saints gave the fans the perfect boost for both the rest of the season and of course the League cup final in a fortnight.
It gave the Saints fans hope that with the arrival of Mannolo Gabbiadini means that we now have the final piece in the attacking jigsaw in Claude Puel's side and we can now start freely scoring goals again.
Some will say this was only bottom of the League Sunderland, but you can only beat what is in front of you and if the Black Cats had won they would have been out of the bottom four and only five points behind us, this was a game that defined whether it would be a relegation worry in the next months or if we are again looking at a top ten place.
Puel's side answered that question emphatically, the stats were familiar, 58% possession 15 attempts on goal for, with only 8 against and 1 on target, but what was unfamiliar was 8 attempts on target for us and 4 goals.
The difference was the clinical finishing of Mannolo Gabbiadini, he has the goalscorers knack for getting on the end of the ball and putting it away, but his game is more than just that, he works hard and creates chances for others and it is that which on Saturday at Sunderland gave confidence for others and helped us build the foundation for what was an emphatic win.
But Gabbiadini did not do it alone, in recent weeks you would have thought at least according to social media that we had a terrible side, I never thought that, whatever was going wrong I thought we had a quality in the side that would see us through the season and even not firing on all cylinders could see us into the top ten.
That being the case the win was also about team work, from the goalkeeper through to the back four and midfield who worked hard to win the ball, pass it and get it to the front three to create chances.
This was done, as I said the stats were not that difference, the thing now is that we have slotted the final piece into the attacking jigsaw, we have options now up front, but more importantly we have in Gabbiadini a man who has given fresh hope to the supporter base.
Of course this was not against a top team and there will be some who will say that, however we struggled against this team twice at home earlier in the season and this is just the sort of game we should have put to bed throughout this season, but up until this weekend have usually failed to do so.
The failure to land a central defender is still there and could cost us dearly, but now we can perhaps feel that we can outscore sides if we have to, it was important to prove this.
Just as important though was to keep a clean sheet, the goalkeeper and central defence have come under pressure after two defeats that saw five goals conceded and virtually all of them should have been defended, we needed to show that we can keep it tight at the back and this is something we have rarely done this season in the Premier League.
This is one win, we have seen false dawns on a few occasions this season, our problem has been consistency and hopefully we can now find that and win two games in a row or hopefully even more and pull up the table, yes one swallow does not make a summer, but perhaps for the first time this season we can see that the central defensive issue aside, we now have the players to play the way that Claude Puel wants and can perhaps make this a season to remember.
This win puts us up to 11th only two points away from 9th and that has to be our target for the season, to finish in the top 10 and when we are in sight of that see how high we can finish.
Sometimes you have to take a step back to go forwards, there is no doubt that is the case for Saints, but we have come through the storm, yes it is still rough waters, but we can now see the light at the end of the tunnel and we are still going forward.
Right time to put aside all the negative thoughts and moans for the next fortnight, we should all be looking forward to a day out at Wembley, something we have not enjoyed many times in our history, lets appreciate it, savour it and enjoy ourselves, certainly not ruin it by constant maoning on social media.