It was a tense nervous day at St Mary's Stadium for perhaps the most important match ever played at the Stadium, but not for long.

This is a very simple verdict to write, basically after 45 games we had to win one final game to be certain of promotion, on paper it looked easy, but as the old cliche goes it was on grass, but just when Saints needed to put in a good shift they did just that for perhaps the most comprehensive win of the season.

It needed an early goal and after a slightly nervy start from Saints thats just what it got with Billy Sharp showing why he is perhaps the most prolific scorer at the club, of course Lambert does the spectacular, but Sharp compliments him brilliantly, the opening goal was typical of the striker, a tiny deflection to Adam Lallana's shot that ensured it went in and it was fitting that it was Sharp whose goals have proved vital in the last couple of months.

The second wasnt long in coming and not for the first time this season it was Danny Fox who delivered a pin point ball into the box from a corner that left Fonte with a free header, under 20 minutes on the clock and Saints had done just what they needed to do and killed the game early on.

From then on the result was never in doubt, the only question was how many would Saints get, after half time Saints did another quick double with goals from Hooiveld and Lallana in the space of four minutes and the job was done, the only surprise was with almost half an hour left there werent more goals, but Saints clearly had the game won and made sure that they didnt give Coventry an unlikely way back into it, all that was left was the celebrations.

You cant pick a man of the match, they all played to their A game as they say in the States, every man from Kelvin Davis in goal up to Rickie Lambert up front played their heart out and deserve the man of the match award.

Photo: Action Images

bstokesaint added 10:32 - Apr 29 Very comfortable in the end. Fantastic atmosphere. Loved every minute of it, as I have much of the season, although I think I'm honest I'd rather have done a Reading and stormed up the league as opposed to hanging on to the top 2 all season!! Credit to NA and the boys for keeping their nerve and not bottling it. In terms of MoM it was good to see Fonte get his first goal (at a key time) and if you watch back the goals Guly made some key contributions. He did brilliantly yesterday. COYR, Premier League.

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JimmySteal added 10:36 - Apr 29 Shame Rickie didn't score but well done The Saints!! Anyone got any thoughts on which members of this squad may be good enough for the Prem?
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SaintNick50 added 11:13 - Apr 29 As an arm chair viewr for this one al least BBC gave the game the profile it deserved with Football Focus from St Marys, Gordon Stachen etc. I hope the new ticketing system will be more sophisticated for next year. TOGETHER AS ONE!
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BlackRod added 11:51 - Apr 29 As many others have said in posts here in recent months: If you'd offered us this at the start of the season we would have bitten your hand off to take it. COYR. Never in doubt.
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SingaporeSaint added 12:34 - Apr 29 Brilliant day... The best in my life as a Saints fan. Great to read the papers this morning - the report in the Telegraph is one for the scrap book.. The introduction of Cork changed the flow of the game for me - we suddenly controlled the midfield - was like we had an extra player on the pitch. Guly also proved his doubters wrong.. Loved the Liebherr tributes - very classy and we will be forever thankful. Also little note for the Cov fans who added to the occassion, sung for their team, stayed to applaud us at the end - and we were very very close to being in their situation with Cisu. We scored at good times and overall looked every inch worthy of being premier league once we went ahead... Being Top 2 all season with a team assembled in League 1 is quite an achievement. It was terrific to be on the pitch at the end. Lets hope the spirit continues in the top flight where a club used to recent success will compete with the Glamour boys of the top flight - it is great to be back..

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Whatsforpud added 15:32 - Apr 29 Agree with everything said. Fonte has had his critics recently, but came into his own yesterday. He showed he is a ball-playing centre back, setting up the first goal, then scoring (at last!) the second. Re the third goal, surely there can't be any defenders who have scored as many as Hooiveld has in open play. I think the only thing missing was a Lambert goal that everyone was willing to happen. A special atmosphere there yesterday - these sort of occasions have to be cherished as they don't come along too often. Adkins was quite overcome when I saw an interview later. Now's the time to celebrate another good season, and worry about life in the Premier league later.

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SaintStu7 added 18:47 - Apr 29 Well done Saints, so proud! Really looking forward to the next 12 months. Hopefully we can keep our feet on the ground and use the squad that has got us here. Its no surprise that of the teams promoted last year the one that has struggled is QPR who have wasted a load of cash on a team full of over rated show ponies. Three signings will do, one midfielder and two defenders. Who we will sign i will leave in the safe hands of NA!

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simmo400 added 06:13 - Apr 30 Fonte was man of the match easily. Had his best game for months. COYR
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St_Beano added 09:04 - Apr 30 Fanatastic win to cap a fantastic season. Little disappointing not to have got that extra point to finish champions. Watched Le Tiss give saying he thought we'd need to bring in at least a central defender, Centre Mid and right mid preferably with prem experience. And I know there is little room for sentiment in football, but can't help feeling its a bit of a shame that some of the guys that worked so hard to get us there will be told sorry you're not good enough to play in the prem. Will have a little chuckle to myself if the hammers don't make it.

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Webbinho added 09:30 - Apr 30 I thought Guly ran his heart out on Saturday as did many others. For next season I think we need a new RB, RM and CM. Perhaps one quality CB too. That should do us. If we could spend £15m to get those 4 players I think we will be well set.
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tiptop added 11:32 - Apr 30 Relief!..and a great night!! Great day and great effort by everyone! We celebrated like champions.The media focus was huge. Didnt see Reading get this attention..OK it wasnt last game of the season drama... Hate to be cold but agree with St Beano it will be hard for some players to be trimmed from he squad as part of the evolution. Areas i think we need to address: Who will make way? *Rright side midfield Puncheon? Guy? Chaplow? SdR? *Centre half Jaidi. Seabourne? Fonte? *Midfield general No one *Striker Forte. Barnard? Connolly? *Keeper. Bart? One thing i cant help thinking - Billy Sharp looks lightweight. He's a big strong looking boy but gets bounced off the ball a lot which doesn't help make up for his lack of pace. A natural goal scorer and def worth his squad place. I think NA would have told him he'll take him to the prem. We need more pace to compliment RL. Maybe Tandanari is that man. I wonder whether NA will go after Hooper? He really wanted him...

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ExiledSupporter added 13:14 - Apr 30 Euphoria and relief in our household too. Well done NA and all the team, esp. Fonte on the day and Guly for his valuable contribution too BUT, looking to the future, some of our passing was poor, we need to learn from Swansea in this department. The Prem league will be very unforgiving of this level of sloppiness. I thought Cork played very well and was puzzled by his initial absence in favour of Hammond who is less creative. Nevertheless we need a midfield general and would like to suggest that this is perhaps our greatest need. Perhaps it should be Lallana and we buy a good left sided midfielder and let Cork et al compete for the right hand side. Don't think de Ridder is good enough until he learns to pass and cross consistently. Bit uneasy about the pace of our defence in all positions and KD's spectacular shot stopping doesn't outweigh his poor judgement in dealing with crosses. Final (obscure) point, what do you make of NA changing his habit of having no goalkeeper on the bench for so many weeks and then selecting Bialkowski at the expense of an alternative outfielder which might have just been more essential if we had been striggling to get ahead of Coventry - after all we could easily have conceded in the first 5 minutes!

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bstokesaint added 13:28 - Apr 30 At the end of the day our boys are all professionals. They know how it works and they also know that things will get tougher now - it's what they all aspire to. Let them all enjoy themselves whilst NA worries about the summer strengthening. I think it's more constructive to say which players are good enough for the step up and then let the rest fight for their places in a competitive squad by bringing in a few other quality players. Initially I would say Davis, Hooiveld, Schneiderlin, Cork, Lallana, Richardson and Lambert can go that one level higher. Other players like Lee (shown promising signs), Sharp (excellent strike rate), Fonte and Fox (good on their day) and Guly (offers something different) I would also expect to feature next season. I think those players who I haven't mentioned will really need to raise their game to play at the next level. That's not meant to be disrespectful, but it will be a big step up for some. I really hope they can do it. In terms of additions to the squad we need to buy sensibly as we have in the past, i.e. quietly and without paying over the odds for players who fit the mould. We won't be able to do a Swansea or a Norwich by making wholesale changes. We certainly don't want to do a QPR. We will need some pace though, something we don't have a lot of at the moment. Can't wait for the summer. Very proud to be a Saint right now. COYR.

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