For the second year running Saints won at Old Trafford to make it three successive seasons without defeat at the home of Manchester United.

From the very start of the game the Saints fans tucked away in the corner at Old Trafford sensed that this was perhaps going to be one of the more memorable games and that it was already written that at some stage Charlie Austin would come on and score the winner.

The Saints game plan was simple in its planning and clinical in it's application, Saints would keep things tight, quieten the crowd, keep the pace slow so as not to let United up their ante, get the crowd on United's backs and then when the chance came, deliver the coup de grace.

Long before Charlie Austin made it a fairytale debut with 3 minutes to go, the home crowd was indeed on United's back and many of them where not even still in the ground to see the Saints winner, it was if the United faithless were resigned to what was to come next for them.

There is a thought that says that United's support has been spoilt by nearly 25 years of mostly total dominance and they have forgotten what it is like to see their team struggle, they have lost their humility and cannot lose with grace and that seemed to be the atmosphere at Old Trafford on Saturday.

Again Ronald Koeman tweaked the team and again it paid off, so much so that it is hard to believe that less than a fortnight ago large selections of our support were in uproar and predicting meltdown and we all thought that Charlie Austin was just a t*** with a dodgy knee, how quickly us football fans adapt our thoughts lol.

It was truly a team performance meaning that not only did Fraser Forster keep another clean sheet, his third in a row, but in those 270 minutes United's one feeble attempt on target was only the second of this period and he is yet to have to make a save of note, Forster did do just what you want him to do and he commanded his box.

In front of him the back four stayed tight, the midfield ran and harried and up front Shane Long closed down and made sure the United defence had to be on their toes.

A mention for Sadio Mane, there were some who felt that he didn't have a good game, it was certainly true that his final touch was woeful whether it was trying to shoot or pass the ball, but his effort could not be faulted, he is in a run where whatever he does just won't go for him, but it will click soon.

The ending was what dreams are made of, on came Charlie Austin and you felt that something special was about to happen.

The foul that led to the goal was needless, Austin was in the corner and going nowhere and he was flattened unnecessarily by frustrated United defenders, James Ward Prowse's free kick was right where you wanted it, Fonte's run drew the defenders and Charlie Austin pulled away to get a free header and he didn't spurn the chance to send the away section into rapture.

Saints supporters perhaps chewed their nails for the final minutes and what seemed like eternal injury time, but the reality was that United were spent and a beaten side.

So a third successive win and Ronald Koeman is showing those waverers of a few week ago that form is temporary and class is permanent, of course any squad can be improved, but now we have one that can adapt and is back to its confident self, the addition of Charlie Austin can only be a boost and could be the thing that pushes us up a notch and perhaps could push us into a European place for next season.

This season has a long way to go yet, it might still turn out to be better than last year, certainly this was perhaps one of the most pleasing victories of the Ronald Koeman era.

Photo: Action Images

DPeps added 18:26 - Jan 24 Great performance - we did exactly what we needed to. Clasie is becoming very good. I was concerned for us a few weeks ago and I'm very happy to be proved wrong now! I wonder what VvD has to do to win a penalty? Game after game the opposition defenders are wrestling him to be ground on corners and nothing is done. Usually I take the view that penalty decisions etc work themselves out across a season but this is getting ridiculous!

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SaintNick added 18:35 - Jan 24 Referees seem to have to turn blind eyes these days otherwise they could award about 10 penalties a game, a corner or free kick put into the box, is like watching an american footbal game as players all grapple with each other
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saintstuinoz added 19:24 - Jan 24 Was at the game, sat with the United fans in the singing section. They (and I) could not believe how poor Man U were. Absolutely lacking in effort and ideas they were. In fairness, I didn't think we were much better. Tadic looked a bitlost, and Mane again can't seem to make anything happen for him. In my opinion VVD was man of the match. He absolutely owned Rooney for the entire game. Long also played very well, and was a nightmare for the United defence. Very hard keeping myself composed when Austin scored! On another note, the few home fans who do sing at Old Trafford had a really great repertoire of songs - makes me think it's time we had a few more...

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IWOZTHERE added 19:58 - Jan 24 Did they sing 'We'll race you back to Hampshire!'
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IWOZTHERE added 20:11 - Jan 24 Darn stream didn't work again, something about 'no source for media player'. Prob. just as well because it stopped a couple of weeks ago when we started winning.When it was working I didn't see them win! Stage was set for yesterday....confidence and belief back, fans as well. A lot to do with the signing, but I think more significantly about the statement of intent the board have made by apparently relaxing the wages regime. Onwards and upwards!

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IanRC added 22:02 - Jan 24 Agree entirely about Smallings grabbing of VVD's shirt, ridiculous that he wasn't booked and a penalty awarded, serial cheating. Actually thought we played pretty well throughout the team, and think you are spot on about Mane, it will come good for him and he continually puts in lots of effort in the meantime.
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IWOZTHERE added 22:51 - Jan 24 The grappling in the area is a joke. Needs a referee directive, if it's mayhem with pens for a weekend or two, so be it. They'd soon learn.
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SanMarco added 23:08 - Jan 24 I wish we were playing Arsenal this coming Tuesday and not a week later. If anything this was even more satisfying than the win at Chelsea. This new formation is working at the moment. We have cut out the carelessness at the back and re-learned how to score - long may it continue...
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SaintPaulVW added 06:38 - Jan 25 Ward-Prowse finally has an outlet. Should allow him to kick on too. Just hope J Rod can get over his troubles and join the party soon. Bit fed up with the total MU bias in the media. MU didn't lose it, as a team we won an evenly balanced match. You would have thought only MU and Charlie Austin were playing from most of the reports I have seen
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bstokesaint added 07:31 - Jan 25 Not surprised we won. Like I said before the game who would we swap from that Man U team into ours? Three tops. It's so disappointing we had to have this rubbish run before the last three games. At the moment I'm back to feeling bring on anyone. Love it.
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bstokesaint added 07:37 - Jan 25 Iwozhere, just been reading in one of the Nationals that we're currently 15th on wages paid. Leicester are 3rd lowest and top of the league and Newcastle and Sunderland are 7/8th respectively. I guess it signals intent to buy bigger names, but the need to exercise caution with a team full of overpaid underachievers is still just as important. Interesting one.
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Alehouse added 08:04 - Jan 25 Where was Steve Davis? Rested, injured? He's been outstanding the last two games and his presence over Tadic could have given us an even more emphatic win.
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SanMarco added 08:26 - Jan 25 Good point bstoke - its not just about wages - but it is a big factor in retaining the players you dont want to lose. On third lowest Leicester may find this out in the summer...
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schatfield added 08:35 - Jan 25 who said Austin was a tw*t with a dodgy knee?
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helpineedsomebody added 09:04 - Jan 25 im hoping tuesday week that pella will be fit to play becouse he sees the 3rd pass by that i mean he sees the big picture up front he will be able to pass at the right time to mane & all charlie has to do is put the ball in the net . but he has to play behind charlie hopefully davis will return & that will mean they will play the ball on the ground a lot more . i know shane has played very well but his strength is not about passing the ball . im hopeing at the emirates rk lets the team off the leish becouse up in manchester it was tactical . the back seven now is fantastic but with davis & pella this team could explode i might even get up at 3am to watch them play

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IWOZTHERE added 09:49 - Jan 25 Agreed bstoke, opening the floodgates on wages could be a recipe for disaster but equally I don't think the examples you use are that representative. Neither geordie club's been particularly well run for years and as for Leicester they're just a phenoma ....phenomim... ...phenomem......a 'one off!' Prob. suffer in the summer like we did unless they re-structure. The wages issue has been aired on here before. I think it had to happen and hope it helps us keep the likes of Bertrand in the next round of talks. It's taken a while for the board to relax it so I'm sure it will remain within our financial capabilities.In the meantime, 'who cares', just Bring em on!

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SaintJez added 10:34 - Jan 25 Fantastic win!! I do think it's fair that the media highlight how poor Man U were. This isn't just another team we are talking about. This is the countries premier, free spending club side. They were (again) utterly hopeless. That said, we were excellent in closing them down, winning the midfield with strength and tenacity, and limiting opportunity for them. Obviously a dream start for Austin and hopefully that will give him the confidence every striker needs. We still lack a bit of cohesion in the final third but it's lovely to have genuine options now. Is funny that I said a couple of weeks ago that I'd love Saints to sign Austin and Januzaj and they both had a big contribution in our winner - though not quite in the way I was expecting!.....

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Scummer added 10:54 - Jan 25 Good write up. I liked "the United faithless". They come across as very critical. One thing I like about Saints is that when we force a pass rather than play it safe, we don't get on the players' backs if it doesn't come off. United are a little too easy to defend against at the moment as they play the obvious percentage pass too often. We were guilty of that not so long ago. Playing Long has changed that. On the wages front, you don't want wages to be the reason that they play for you - you can think of a couple of expensive flops who fall into that category - but you also don't want it to be the reason they don't want to join or the reason for them to leave. Hunger for success should come from somewhere else, or the recruitment team haven't got the right sort of player for our squad.

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SingaporeSaint added 11:54 - Jan 25 Absolutely fantastic performance. Midfield and Defence were outstanding and we quite literally didn't give their forwards a kick. Great to see us go and dominate the game at old Trafford - they were poor but we made them look poor... Loved it. Fans were great too by the sound on the global feed. Growing up in qpr supporting west london I never thought Charlie Austin was anything other than a great signing! Je Suis Charlie.

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SaintBrock added 12:37 - Jan 25 Hind sight is always a wonderful thing when we are in celebratory mode, Nick. I'm not sure it was planned quite as neatly as you suggest, otherwise we'd be world beaters! Tell us your plan for how we will beat Arsenal. :-) We were the better team throughout and the win was very well deserved and despite the `Beeb's almost blanket refusal to acknowledge that we were even on the same pitch as their unfairly vanquished heroes of Manchester. Pleased for JWP and pleased for Charlie Austin for assisting and scoring our winner, let's hope it was not just a flash in the pan for the newcomer before he is smothered and battered by thick-as-bricks bully boy centre backs.

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IWOZTHERE added 14:28 - Jan 25 I know what you mean scummer but there's a big difference between 40/50 k and 100k+, enough to turn anybody's head. Now we've (apparently) got a lot closer, at least we're 'in the game.'
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TeamCortese added 20:25 - Jan 25 Great result! It's about time the board put their money where their mouth and it's most certainly paid dividends. The introduction of Charlie and him scoring will hopefully give our upfront a kick up the backside. For most of this season the difference has been us not converting opportunities and sloppiness in defence. I think that shouldn't be the case going forward and hopefully we can kick on for a place in the top 6 #WeMarchOn

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SaintBrock added 22:00 - Jan 25 I agree and it is noticeable is it not how ineffective Tadic and Mane have become since Pelle was out of the team. The three of them seem to work as a unit or not at all presumably because of some instinctive understanding of each other's positioning and timing of runs. We need to get that working again because Austin is essentially a poacher but we cannot rely on him alone converting occasional well taken set pieces or knocking in second balls. It remains to be seen how he will integrate with our tricky front runners who are adept at getting through the lines to create chances. What we do not want is a reversion to long balls onto Austin' ahead at the expense of more constructive raiding into the final third.

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