After two draws on the road it was back to St Mary's for a Saints side who had lost ground over the previous days on the three teams above them, in a promotion fight it is always going to be more about the result than the performance.
The two draws in the past seven days had brought out the murmurings on social media again on social media about Saints promotion credentials, we lack a goalscorer some said, despite the fact that in Adam Armstrong we have the second highest scorer in the league, we can't defend others say, despite the fact that in the 13 games undefeated up to this game we are just about the best defence in the division.
So this was going to be a pivotal moment in the season, had Russell Martin's luck run out and would he be exposed as not having a plan B.
But before we kicked off there was the little matter of Ipswich V Norwich, would we be playing catch up or would we have an opportunity to close the gap ?
The answer was the latter and the hope was that this would act as a boost for the team.
The team news from St Mary's was not a surprise, what was though was the way it lines up, JWP switched to left back and James Bree on the right, also we appeared to be playing without a centre forward, Adam Armstrong & Sam Edozie clearly playing wide, with Joe Aribo seemingly playing a very deep central role.
Saints dominated the first half in terms of possession, but it was perhaps the visitors who had the best chance of the early first half exchanges with Gavin Bazunu doing well to stop a freekick which came through the wall and he would have seen late and making it a double stop as he blocked the follow up, this would be 50% of Rovers shots on target in the space of 3 seconds.
Saints did have a lot of the ball going forward, but we seemed to have little impact in the box, Sam Edozie and Adam Armstrong worked hard down the wings but had little to hit in the box.
We did have our moments and the crowd howled in disbelief as Adam Armstrong appeared to have been hauled down only yards from the ref.
However things changed just as Blackburn thought they were going in level at the break, James Bree in his new employment of taking corners on the left got in a decent effort and Sam Edozie put the ball in the net in front of the keeper with his knee, it settled the nerves going in at half time.
The second half started in the same way the first had finished with Saints in complete control, but then came a moment of madness, Saints won a foul, the referee blew, but in frustration Brittain launched the ball up field, you can get away with a lot with referee's, but one thing they can spot is kicking the ball away after the whistle is blown, it was a yellow card and Brittain suddenly remembered he had already been booked when the ref brandished the red.
It didn't take long for Saints to then double their lead, Flynn Downes made a good run into the box and as he went down and the ball went free, Stuart Armstrong swept home, to ease the nerves.
So with 64 minutes gone, the opposition down to 10 men and now the team finding it's form surely we would now crush Blackburn.
No what we did was take the impetus away from our own side, a minute later we make a triple change, off goes Flynn Downes the man we missed so much in the previous two games and implicit in the second goal, off goes Sam Edozie having a good game and buoyed by scoring the opening goal and perhaps even more bizarrely taking off Taylor Harwood- Bellis purely to give Jack Stephens a game.
I'm sorry Russell but you got it wrong here, we needed to work on getting the goal difference down, here we are in complete control against 10 men and with the opportunity to score a few and you take off arguably our two best players of the first 65 minutes and also an unneeded defensive change.
This meant we lost impetus and Blackburn even had a few promising forages into our half.
On 76 minutes in was a double change, off eventual man of the match Stuart Armstrong and top scorer Adam Armstrong, on came Charley Alcatraz & Sekoe Mara,.
Now I can understand about giving people a game, but truth is this should not have been the priority, turning the screw and improving our goal difference, something that could be crucial at the end of the season should have been the priority, we would not have take our foot off the gas so early in the second half.
In the end Blackburn ran out of steam, even though Charley Alcatraz missed a penalty in shocking fashion, it was good to see Sekou Mara open his account for the season and indeed Alcaraz redeem himself blasting home the rebound as the keeper failed to hold a shot to make it 4-0.
That made the scoreline something of a dichotomy, on one hand some would say it flattered us given two goals in the final two minutes of injury time, but on the other hand it was more than a true reflection of our dominance and to be blunt we could have and should have scored a lot more, 6-0 would not have been unfair.
But it is what it is, as I said at the start it was about the result not the performance and come 5pm the news from Leeds was good, Coventry had got a draw meaning we had drawn level with Leeds, but not above them as we were still even after a 4-0 win 7 goals worse off, perhaps highlighting why we need to take every opportunity to pick up a goal or two when we can.
So overall a good day for Saints, we won and won well, we gained two points on both Ipswich & Leeds and hopefully we convinced a few of the doubters that we have staying power.
14 games unbeaten in the Championship is a feat that should not be looked at lightly, Nigel Adkins never got near that figure in 2011/12's promotion season, Lawrie McMenemy neither in 1977/78, even Ted Bates in the run it to promotion from the then Division 2 in 1965/66 could only manage 12 games unbeaten.
So Russell Martin has achieved something at this club that the previous three managers who have won promotion to the top flight did not manage and that should perhaps give food for thought to some.
This season is going to be a war of attrition, we are chasing that 2 point a game average that will give us 92 points, this might not be enough in this strange Championship season, but we just have to set a reasonable target and keep going.
Last 3 games a little short 5 points = 1.66 per game, last 6 games 12 points = 2 points per game, spot on.
In conclusion the one thing that we have is that we have the ability to spread the goals around, in Adam Armstrong we have an out and out goalscorer, but although we have no one near him in his 12 scored so far, we have a few who are capable of getting into double figures.
I also expect a surprise signing in January up front.