Saints earned their third win out of four games when they faced Queens Park Rangers at St Mary's , but there were a lot of talking points even before the game had started, with two names not on the team sheets two new ones on the subs bench.
The talk in the pub and hour before the game was all about who would not be playing, rather than who was, there was no sign of Che Adams & Nathan Tella and most agreed that would suggest that they had played their last game for the club.
That has proved to be the case with Tella now gone to Bayer Leverkusen, but the future of Che Adams is right up in the air, Russell Martin has said of him, that his head is all over the place about whether he stays or goes and it is far from a done deal either way.
But two new names were not the bench, Ryan Fraser on loan from Newcastle and Flynn Downes who joined earlier in the week from West Ham also on loan.
The two men missing meant changes to the team from last week, in came Charly Alcatraz and Sam Amo-Ameyaw and a slight reshuffle with Adam Armstrong played in his best position of through the centre, something he has rarely done since arriving two years ago.
This would be the key to winning the game and it was no surprise at the end when he was named man of the match.
But when the dust had settled and the game kicked off there was the job of winning a game of football to be done.
IT was no surprise that from the start Saints played their possession game and QPR settled into sitting back and going on the break.
With 25 minutes gone came injury, Jack Stephens went down and was banging his fist on the grass in frustration and it was clear that he would not be continuing.
Perhaps the obvious choice would be a straight swap like for like with Armando Bella-Kotchap on the bench, but Russell Martin had other ideas, he dropped back Shea Charles into the back four and brought on Flynn Downes in the centre of midfield, this would be crucial in our win, it brought some pace into the back four that would prove priceless with QPR going on the break and Flynn Downes slotted in seamlessly into the centre of the park.
Sam Edozie had looked lively in the first half hour and he and Saints got just rewards when he fired home to put the home side into the lead, perhaps the keeper should have done better.
I hoped that this goal would give him the confidence to be able to deliver that end product, but this was perhaps his last truly positive contribution to the game, a little harsh perhaps, as both Charly Alcatraz & Sam Amo-Ameyaw had poor games themselves.
You hoped that this would now settle the game down, but as at Plymouth it did the opposite, as within two minutes Rangers were level, there was no real blame here, Colback hit a low hard shot that went in off the post.
It could have been worse through Gavin Bazunu kept out the original shot but the loose ball was fired home, luckily up went the offside flag and now no waiting around for VAR.
The second half saw QPR's confidence rising and it was the Saints defence the busier going into half time.
In the second half although again Saints had a lot of the possession, they would have 74% overall in the game, it was QPR who were direct, you didn't need to be a TV pundit to work out their tactics, get behind the ball and then bang it up for the lone striker.
Russell Martin made a double change 10 minutes after the restart, Sekou Mara coming on and Alcaraz going off, with Amo-Ameyaw departing for the debut of Ryan Fraser, Edozie changing wings.
On 64 minutes it was Saints ahead, the ball came to Adam Armstrong who wrong footed his marker swivelled and hit a crisp shot into the far corner to restore what had been a short lead in the first half.
Saints now had their best spell of the game, they got the crisp passing going, they kept the ball and passed and Ryan Fraser looked lively on the left wing, he was direct and causing QPR problems and he looks a more than suitable replacement for Nathan Tella.
So it seemed that Saints would see out the game with ease, but there was still a threat from QPR on the break and deep into injury time we got lucky, Rayan Kolli unable to get a shot away and we cooly picked up the ball and played it out of defence, in truth most of the crowd were having kittens that it wasn't thumped up field.
So another good win and all three of them have been 2-1, with the only blot on the landscape being the draw with Norwich.
But Russell Martin hit the nail on the head after the game when he told BBC Radio Solent:
"If you'd have said 10 points from 12 with all the nonsense going on and all the noise then I'm really pleased with that."
That perhaps sums up the first month of the season, we all knew it would be difficult given the uncertainty of who is staying and who is going, but with the end of the window only a few days away, so far we have not been too demoralised by the departures and it seems that those who have come in have looked like they will make positive contributions.
In this game both Ryan Fraser and Flynn Downes showed that they have brought experience to the team, Shea Charles is a rock in the centre of midfield and can also play in the centre of the back.
For the game at Sunderland next week Russell Martin is going to have selection problems, he finally has options in all areas, with the only big question remaining seemingly whether Che Adams stays or whether he goes and needs replacing.
All in all Saints supporters can be pleased with the start to the season, whilst there are of course some issues to be dealt with, we have come through the first four games unbeaten, we have scored 10 goals and earned 10 points, that is better than I would have hoped, but our ability to defend has been an issue.
However with the signing of Mason Holgate that has to improve things, so there is light at the end of the tunnel.
But the best thing about the first month of the season is that the enjoyment is back, it is fun to go and watch Saints again, someone said in the pub that the ideal thing this season would be to get promoted and then refuse to to go up.
Another full house in the general seated areas proved that there is a core support out there who will come week in week out, that support had become tired of the Premier League, it had seen what is happening at the top of football and that they didn't like it.
So the difficult first month has now ended and we have come through it in terms of results unscathed, two points behind Leicester, the only team with 4 straight wins and three points ahead of West Brom who sit in 7th one place outside the play off spots.
This is a good solid start and one that we can now build on with our new signings both already here and perhaps about to arrive.
Russell Martin had perhaps a mixed reaction from the fans when he arrived, but he has shown that he deserves the support of the supporters, or at least the benefit of the doubt going forward from those still a little sceptical.
He has a system and a strategy and he has stuck with it, Selles & Jones had a squad that should have stayed up with the quality in there, they failed because they did not have faith in their own ability, the solution to a problem was always change, we never had a settled side or strategy, now we have it again with Russell Martin.
Although I have waxed lyrical about our start, I am not overwhelmed with emotion, I know that the real work starts next weekend, we have build the foundations we now have to keep building them, keep getting better week in week out.
We don't yet have a winning mentality, but we do have the never lose easily one and that is the first step in, a winning mentality comes with confidence and that builds with each win.
Two weeks ago I said that we were at our weakest point as we went into the game against Norwich, yet we didn't lose and we learned from the game, we are not yet the finished article but we are getting there and we more than any of our rivals, are getting stronger with new men coming in.
This is going to be a tough season, but is is also going to be an enjoyable one, lets not just sit back and enjoy the ride, let's stand up and be proud of our club and team again and as the crowd did against QPR on Saturday, let's make some noise.