Saints went to Selhurst Park with a reshaped team after a raft of injuries, they didn't play well in many respects, but they played with fight and spirit and that saw them through 90 minutes for a well earned draw.
Ralph Hasenhuttl patched up his walking wounded and put out a side short on attacking quality and saw his team show both the good and bad points of their play, Palace dominated the match, but Saints had the fight in them to keep going through tough times and get a deserved point.
The game started with Saints attacking for the first two minutes and the home side had barely had a touch when some sloppy passing saw Will Hughes tackle Romeu from behind and within seconds the Saints defence was carved open and yet again we were a goal down before the game had got going.
Saints fans roared for a foul on Romeu but it was a clean tackle and it was of our own making.
The first half hour was hard to watch, Saints ran around and battled but Palace were bossing the game and it needed two smart saves from Caballero to keep Saints in it, with 30 minutes on the clock there looked only one winner and it was only a question of how many.
But then came our first stroke of luck in a game where the referee rarely seemed to give us anything yet Palace only had to fall over to get a free kick, we got a foul just outside the penalty area and up stepped James Ward Prowse for a free kick that was his trademark last season and we were level.
Five minutes later we were ahead Broja got the ball 40 yards out, turned and then let fly from 30 yards into the bottom corner, amazingly we were in front and the game turned.
We were suddenly a different team and the confidence was back.
The second half saw Palace come at us again and we gave as good as we got, just after the hour mark we looked to have weathered the early bluster but then we gave away another soft goal, we had plenty of chances to clear, didn't and then Ayew equalised from a tight angle.
The tide turned again and Palace felt they could win it, but this is where we dug in gave as good as we got and earned a well deserved point.
Some of those behind me were not happy with the substitutions, with 20 minutes to go Djenepo for Smallbone showed we had the appetite to try and win it, but many were not happy with Shane Long for Broja.
Of course Broja is a better player and more likely to score, but those howling their derision should remember Broja limped off on Saturday and was a doubt for this game, he had run himself into the ground, it was right to save him for Saturday.
Likewise the third and final sub, Walcott on for Tella, the youngster had also run himself into the ground and had a great game, but he was clearly tired and fresh legs were needed.
Overall this was a game were Saints didn't play well, they lacked confidence and Palace smelt blood, but we dug in, the keeper made some crucial saves and we gained the point not through flowing play or pinpoint passing, but pure spirit, battle and fight, everyone fought for their team mates and we ground out a point that looked highly unlikely after 30 minutes.
Given our missing injured this was a point gained, yes it was disappointing not to take home all three, in some respects we deserved to win, but Palace could also claim that themselves as they played some very cohesive attacking football at times, all in all a point was a fair result.
We now have some foundations we can build on, hopefully on Saturday we will have some of our injured back in contention and we can start to play with confidence again and how we know we can.
We are not far off being a good side, we have a squad that is not perfect but can challenge for the top 10, our problems though have been the usual ones of lapses in concentration and individual error and both of those were on display at times at Selhurst Park, both are also something that managers cannot legislate for, once a player crosses the line you have to hope he does his job, when he doesn't it costs managers their jobs.
The manager has also been under fire in some quarters, but last night he picked a team to do a job and it did just that, he got his selections right, his substitutions right and instilled a passion in his side to take them through.
For those that were there it was a rollercoaster, but an away game to enjoy, a great turnout by Saints and we made a lot of noise, but respect to Palace fans, a decade or so ago Selhurst Park was like a morgue, but over the past years the Palace Ultras have started a culture that has spread around the ground, I have rarely been in a ground in the Premier League that has made so much noise and continued to do so throughout the game, yes we silenced them at the end of the first half, but they soon came back.
It pains me to say it but it is something to aspire to, St Mary's can be loud, but not in the way that the Palace fans now back their team to the full, those who spent much of their time last night and there were quite a few, calling Long, Djenepo, Walcott & Redmond sh*t should take note, ironically the same people were loud in their support of the team, but we need to get out of our habits thinking slagging off our own players is support.
But I don't want to end on a negative point because overall both the Saints team and the travelling supporters were magnificent in their passion and it was a night to be proud to be a Saints fan.