Southampton fans travelled in large numbers to Craven Cottage more in hope than expectation, they saw their team pegged back for large amounts of the game, but ultimately snatch it at the end, to make it one of those memorable FA Cup ties.

Tonda Eckert kept his promise to go strong, he did so both on the field and on the bench, but the gulf these days is big between Premier League & Championship clubs and no one really expected Saints to be in the quarter finals of the FA Cup come the final whistle.

The game settled into a pattern of Fulham swarming forward and getting the ball into our box and our chances coming mainly on the break and Leo Scienza, Tom Fellows and Cyle Larin both had good chances to put us ahead at various points in the game.

If I am honest Fulham battered us, if they had scored I think it would have been very difficult for us to get back into the game.

The match stats were evidence to Fulham's dominance, they had 68% possession, they had 24 goals attempts to our 5, they had 53 touches in our penalty area we had 18 in theirs, but the one stat that mattered was the goals for.

It is pertinent to note that of their 24 attempts at goal, then managed only 6 on target where they found Daniel Peretz having his best game yet in a Saints shirt, they also found our back four throwing themselves in the way of anything that came near them.

When the first changes came on 71 minutes, those around me questioned why we were risking him when we have two vital games coming up in the next 6 days, but it proved to be a master stroke.

Cyle Larin wasn't having a great game in terms of his finishing, but to his credit he never gave up and kept going and created at least one big chance for others, for long periods he was isolated and when he got the ball he found we were so deep, he had little support, he didn't have a great game, but he didn't have a bad one either due to his work rate, he played his part in what would turn out to be a victory.

As the game entered its last 5 minutes, I was desperately hoping for a goal, I almost didn't care if it was Fulham who scored it, the last thing we needed was extra time with two crucial games coming up this week, but then came the shock.

As the game hit the 89th minute it suddenly burst into life for Southampton, Ross Stewart picked up the ball midway in the Fulham half and laid it through for Finn Azaz who was brought down and the ref pointed to the spot.

Such is VAR etc it was the 91st minute before the kick was taken and Ross Stewart smashed it home to send 5,000 Saints fans bezerk

During the wait the ref had signalled 6 minutes of injury time, so now we were looking at that and at least 2 minutes more to endure, but having got into a winning position, Saints were not about to give it away now.

The final whistle saw much celebrating both in the team and the supporters, for what had turned out to be one of those iconic games if you were there.

I have not been impressed by Daniel Peretz so far as regular readers will attest, however this was his best game for the club so far, he made several crucial saves to keep the scores level and his one lapse saw the subsequent goal ruled out for offside.

For me Peretz is rightly the man of the match, not just for a string of very good saves, but also for his general command of his six yard box under pressure, he played a big part and deserved the praise.

In front of him were a back four who got stuck in to their task with relish, Fulham are one of those mid table Premier League sides who pack their team with big strong athletes and rely on pace and balls into the box, yet we were up for both and it was interesting to note that they didn't have a player on the pitch who could match Leo Scienza for pace.

The midfield also scrapped it's way through the game and had to put up with constant shirt pulling and wrestling that the referee chose to ignore, perhaps he thought that it's now part and parcel of the game, but if I can see a shirt being pulled from over 60 yards away, why can't the ref from 6 yards, as far as I know shirt pulling is still a foul.

I would be interested to note something I later saw on TV when Daniel Peretz made a superb save in the 85th minute, the one he made with his face, if you look at replays Nathan Wood was having his shirt hauled off his back as he tried to get back, if the ball had gone in would the ref or VAR given it ? I would say not, they both seem to feel that wresting in the penalty box is all part and parcel of the game now.

If I wanted to see this type of football then I would watch the NFL.

So this was a team performance and given it was against Premier League opposition, one of the best of the season from a battling perspective, it highlighted the spirit that has now been instilled in the squad by Tonda Eckert.

Before this unbeaten run started there were whisperings of unrest in the Saints squad, that certain players were disruptive and January saw several of the squad leave with eyebrows raised, but it cannot be denied that Eckert's squad is clearly united and motivated and not only that but ready to roll up their sleeves and battle.

The last mention has to go to the Saints fans, 5,000 tickets were given and sold very quickly and I don't know why Fulham didn't let us have the final block in the stand.

If it was because they thought that it would give us an advantage, they were too late, we didn't need 6,000, those that were there gave perhaps the best away support of the season, it didn't let up for 90 minutes and at the final whistle it was great to see the team celebrating with the fans.

In contrast the Fulham fans were quiet and when I watched the TV replay of the penalty, perhaps I got the answer, directly behind the goal there where a number of what looked like Japanese tourists, they all had their mobile phones up and ready to video the penalty kick.

During their time in the Premier League, Fulham have always catered to tourists, it had it's infamous neutral zone to attract those visiting London who would like to see a Premier League game, Craven Cottage being perhaps the only London ground where you would be able to get a ticket.

This has diluted the atmosphere in a ground that has never really been noted for it in the past.

Anyway Saints march on and we now await the cup draw this evening with anticipation, could we get a draw which would give us a good chance of a visit to Wembley in the semi's ?

Let's hope so, I would say the chances of us winning the Competition again 50 years after the first are still pretty slim, but stranger things have happened.

All Photos Via Reuters