What a week it has been for Saints, Seven Days ! Seven Points ! Seventh Place ! Although one win doesn't everything hunky dory, it does show we have the foundations to still make this a great season.
I have to admit that when I saw the team for this game I was a little baffled, I could see no logical reason for leaving out either Jose Fonte or Steven Davis, both have been two of our more consistent performers both in this season and for several years previous.
Indeed it is not as if we need to rest players to keep them fresh, after this game there is a full ten days of rest before we take on Spurs at St Mary's.
So I was a little worried that this might be the game that the fans really turned on Claude Puel, even after this victory I can still see no logic in these selection decisions.
Early doors it looked like protest might be on the cards, Bournemouth came out of the blocks as expected and although we handled it fairly comfortably, we gave away a soft goal allowing Ake to ghost in and head home as our defence stood like statues and watched.
For five minutes or so it looked like this would be a repeat of last season's debacle, but once Ryan Bertrand showed the attacking players how it was done with a superb run and shot across Artur Boruc into the far corner the game started to swing.
Although Bouremouth rarely troubled Fraser Forster from then on in, we still looked disjointed in the midfield and to be blunt Harrison Reed is no Steven Davis, but in the main we held our shape and looked to be getting on top of the game.
At half time Claude Puel realised the error of his ways, on came Davis for Reed and within minutes of the restart we were in front and in control of the game with Steven Davis the instigator.
A superb little run followed by a dink over the keeper across the goal may have gone in itself, but wit a defender closing in to clear Jay Rodriguez slid in to make sure.
From then on it was Saints in command and the Cherries did not look at all like getting back into the game, the central midfield trio started to click, Hojbjerg, Clasie and Davis bossed the centre and played simple balls to the attacking three and we could have increased our lead.
I have to say though our second substitution was also strange, Boufal seemed to be starting to run Bournemouth ragged, yet he was taken off on the hour mark as he seemed to be on top of his game, the change although taking a little something away did not upset our momentum too much.
But 2-1 was a slender lead and you always have the feeling with Saints that they have the ability to switch off late on and concede, however this was not going tobe one of those days and when Jay Rodriguez hit his second a sublime swivel and shot into the top corner from outside the box, you knew it was three points for the visitors.
Jay Rodriguez was the man of the match for many, those who said h was finished over the past few weeks have been doing so based only on the fact that he hasn't been able to get in the team and had only scored one Premier League goal not only in this season but last year as well.
They hadn't been taking into account that strikers need to be playing games reularly and find their touch, J Rod has had that this week, yes he didn't score in the first two of the week, but the signs were there, the first goal yesterday put a spring in his step and he looked back to if not his best but getting there, the second goal showed that he still has that talent and ability to score goals of all types.
So a tough game for Saints but one that showed that this squad has the ability to achieve things this season, of course not everything is perfect but at this stage last year we had 21 points, this year we have 24, last year we had scored 21 goals, this year we have scored 17, last year we were 12th this year 7th (Ok it might be 8th after tonight) but these stats show that things are not as bad as some would have you believe, yes Claude Puel still has his doubters, but he is doing the job quietly and functionally and perhaps the fact that he does not have the personality of Ronald Koeman is clouding the judgement of some.
I can't end the review without mentioning the Saints fans, they stayed behind the team from start to finish, even after Bournemouth scored and it would have been easy to turn on the manager.
But the Saints support was loud and created an atmosphere that was lacking in the home sections who seemed to rely on a few hundred behind the far goal who in fairness have probably been there for the last 15 years and a block to our left who seemed to have started following the Cherries in the last few seasons since that stand was built and seemed to want to go through their repertoire of every Premier League standard song, surprisingly they were very silend after the 14th minute, deathly quiet after the 48th and just red seats after the 85th.
But it was great to see Saints back on track, great to see a spring back in our stride in the second half, yes there are still things to be addressed, but if we do so then 2017 could be a landmark year in Saints history.