There is no doubt that the Spygate issue cast a cloud over Southampton Football Club and roused up Middlesbrough players and their fans in a way that perhaps would not have happened otherwise, but the good thing was we held firm, weathered the storm and go to St Mary's on level terms.

I am not going to go too deeply into the spy in the bushes issue here, other than to say that it turned out to be the single biggest impact on this game, in the fact that it raised the atmosphere in the Riverside Stadium to levels rarely and possibly never seen before in it's 31 year existence.

It had the home crowd on all sides of the ground literally frothing at the mouth and a home team pumped up to maximum levels, Boro manager Kim Hellberg probably did not need to say much in the dressing room.

Before this issue reared it's ugly head, the game in Middlesbrough seemed to be low key, they had 6,000 tickets unsold a few days before the game and indeed they still had around 2,500 empty seats in the ground even with this, put bluntly it was a situation that Tonda Eckert and his men didn't need.

From the very start we had our backs to the wall, Boro poured foward roared on by a partizan crowd and we struggled to win the ball and even worse struggled to keep it.

Likewise the travelling Saints supporters, we were loud and proud, but you could hardly hear us with the din being made by the home fans.

When we did get the ball to Cyle Larin he was continually manhandled, if I could see his shirt being held and stretched a foot from his body from 50 yards away, how could the referee fail to see it from 5 yards, Larin did not get one free kick, yet is seemed that if a Boro player fell over then the whistle blew straight away.

We had a mountain to climb and stuck doggedly to our task, it was not a case of playing well, it was a case of not playing badly, the likes of Tom Fellows, Finn Azaz & Leo Scienza were not getting the ball much and when they di were not keeping it and using it, but they rolled their sleeves up and did not shirk their defensive duties.

We threw ourselves into every tackle and in front of every shot, Boro might have gone into the break with 71% possession and we with not even a touch in their box let alone a shot, but they weren't getting many on target.

This was perhaps due to the fact that for much of the half their main form of attack was down the wing and cross into the box, the problem there for them was that we were bigger and stronger and our defenders, Taylor Harwood-Bellis in particular were winning every ball into the box.

Perhaps the worst moment of the half came in injury time when just as you thought that we were into the break all square, Daniel Peretz blotted his copybook by slicing the ball straight to them, they were now 3 on 2 on goal, God knows how we survived it, I don't know either I had my eyes covered.

Surely we couldn't be worse in the second half and after an early bluster that turned out to be the case, the 15 minute break had drawn the home sides sting and you could see we were starting to get more into the game.

On the hour Tonda Eckert made a change, Ross Stewart on for Cyle Larin and the game did start to swing more in our favour, then on 69 minutes two more, Charles for Downes & Matsuki for Fellows and you could feel the game changing, a nearby steward said to be you are going to nick it and you could feel the apprehension in the players and the crowd.

When we got the ball they suddenly were retreating in fear, not pressing as they had done before.

Taylor Harwood-Bellis crashed a header against the bar and we were growing in confidence.

Sam Edozie on for Leo Scienza on 86 minutes was a little strange, yes fresh legs, but having got that far I would have stuck with Leo.

But Edozie almost won it minutes after coming on, his shot going just wide, after that you sensed that Boro had stopped pressing and were just making sure that they had something to defend at St Mary's even if it was only a 0-0 draw.

This was very much a game of two halves, perhaps even a game of thirds, the first two dominated by Boro and the last one by Saints.

Boro fans will take heart from the fact that they battered us for 60 minutes, they will feel that they got our measure and there is an element of truth in that, but in the final 30 minutes we grew stronger and that will have un nerved them a little.

On the radio on the way home Boro fans were saying that they were a better side away from home than at the Riverside, but stats don't back that up, at home they won 12 and drew 6, losing only 5, on the road they won 10 drew 8 and lost 5, so they were better at home.

Likewise ourselves we are have been far better at home than away, winning 12, drawing 8 and losing only 3, one of those draws was against Boro at a time when under Will Still we were decidedly average and Boro were in the top 2.

Boro's big chance was in this game, with Spygate riling them up they failed to beat us.

No one can argue that we played well in this game, but we didn't play badly, we showed that we are a hard side to beat, we rolled up our sleeves and battled, we couldn't get our own game going, but we showed a different side of our game under Tonda Eckert, the ability to get down in the dirt and fight, bear in mind that back in January Boro blitzed us.

Yes we rode our luck at times, but we also made our own luck with our never say die attitude, with the crowd against us, the media against us, indeed even the ref against us, or perhaps just Cyle Larin against whom he seemed to refuse to give a free kick for unless stabbed and the Boro players pumped up, we dug in and got back to St Mary's unscathed.

They threw everything at us including the kitchen sink and we did not wither.

Now it is back to St Mary's and in essence a one off cup final and Saints supporters have to make sure that the tables are turned, a warm welcome for the team coach and an even warmer welcome for the Middlesbrough team when they run out on to the pitch.

Show them that we don't need anything to pump us up, other than what is on the pitch.

That is our manager and football team, who extended their unbeaten run in the Championship and the last word should go to the Southampton travelling support who despite being out sung due to sheer weight of numbers, kept going throughout.

We were crammed in to the corner of the ground, yet a few exceptions aside we all kept going, very few just stood their and watched the game, we sung shouted and screamed and that is how it should be away from home.

Our players left nothing on the pitch and most Saints fans at the Riverside left nothing in the stands.

If we all do the same on Tuesday evening then we will hopefully at Wembley come 10pm.

All Photos Via Reuters