This was not the easy win that most Saints fans were expecting and hoping for, but we have to take learn from the negatives rather than moan about them and take the positives, at the end of these midweeks fixtures we have brought promotion into our own hands.

The win at Fulham on Sunday saw a lot of euphoria both on and off the pitch and watching the game at the Hawthorns the phrase "After the Lord Mayors show" definitely came to mind, for those that might not be familiar with this it is a British idiom meaning an anticlimactic or disappointing event following an otherwise exciting or impressive spectacle.

You felt that the players were lacking something out there that they had at Fulham, it was hard to pinpoint but from the very start of this game we looked lacklustre, certain players who have performed over the past few weeks had hit a wall, they struggled to get their games together and make an impression.

Shea Charles looked way off the pace and was struggling to get his game together, he was far from alone, we had too many who didn't seem to be able to control the ball.

The longer this went on the more West Brom gained in confidence and when we gave away what was a poor goal on the stroke of half time, you wondered whether this would be our night.

In truth the goal itself was typical of the latest fad that seems to have emerged in English football, each and every corner these days seems to be an inswinger with around 14-16 players packed into the six yard box, the idea is to block off the goalkeeper and his defenders and then put the ball in the mixer and see what happens.

It is like watching an American football game with players holding each other and grappling to prevent the opposition reaching the ball, quite frankly it is ruining the game and for some reason referees allow it.

This is not a tactic it is cheating !

Personally I find it awful to watch and it isn't football as I know it and whilst I am on the subject, just what have players got to do these days to bet a foul throw given against them ?

I see various variations on throwing the ball in from various positions nowhere near where the ball went out and the referee's just ignore it, it is almost as if they have been told that the game is being ruined as a spectacle enough as it is, lets not compound that by picking up foul throws and making it even more stop start.

So although Daniel Peretz was floundering a bit for the goal, he was not at fault in that he could barely get near the corner due to the number of players in the six yard box.

Half time saw Cyle Larin on for Ross Stewart, possibly to give us a bit more movement and physical presence, but this did not improve things, West Brom dropped deep and let us pass the ball around, but too often this was just backwards and forwards across the pitch and very rarely did we get the ball into positions where we could score.

At Fulham we had to defend deep and when we got the ball we got forward quickly, last night we spent too much time passing it amongst ourselves instead of getting the Baggies on the back foot.

Substitutions didn't change much, many were resigned to defeat when all of a sudden a goal came from nowhere in the 1st minute of injury time and it was a goal that proved that it is not about how many passes or touches you have it is about positive contributions and from this perspective Sam Edozie and Larin linked up to snatch a draw that was looking unlikely.

Edozie didn't muck about with the ball, he got it into the box not only quickly but accurately, he did that and Larin got on the end of it and the ball was in the net.

Some might be uncharitable and say it came off the defenders head not Larin's, but the Canadian striker had used his physical presence to make sure the defender could do little else, so he deserves the credit.

But overall we didn't win this game because we failed to move the ball forward quickly, we played as if we were 1-0 up, not losing the game by that score, we had no urgency.

It started from the keeper, too often he didn't move the ball quickly, he put his foot on it or simply stood there with it at his feet, too often it was played to a defender too late which meant they were closed down quickly.

Jack Stephens was also a culprit here.

So where are the plus points in this game you may ask, we dropped two points ?

Yes that is not good, but there were some good individual performances, some may disagree but I thought Finn Azaz got better as the game went along, he was involved in almost all our moves, he picked up the ball and moved it quickly, more importantly often very short passes to try and force impetus.

It was nothing spectacular but if more had kept it short & quick, rather than long cross field passes that often got intercepted, then we might have got more out of the game.

There was the fact that we did get a point, a point than means that we are only 3 points behind Wrexham and a play off place is in our own hands, that is a positive thing.

There is also the fact that Saints proved once again that a good team can play badly and still grind out results, this is what we did last night, as we did at Leicester we might have been poor, but we never lost the belief that we could get something out of the game.

When we did get the goal, you saw the confidence return and West Brom wobble, unfortunately there was not enough time to really capitalise, if we had score 5 or 10 minutes earlier you would not have bet against a Southampton win.

So we keep our unbeaten record intact and live to fight another day, Wrexham will now be looking over their shoulder nervously.

All Photos Via Reuters