The only thing that mattered in this game was the result and aside from a ritual slaughtering of the Skates as in 2019 or a late injury time winner in 1984, this was perhaps the most satisfying way of achieving the result.

The atmosphere around the ground before the game was electric, you could not move in the Northam fanzone and on the concourse outside it, as first Mark Dennis then Rickie Lambert stirred up the fans with rallying calls about beating the old enemy again.

The team news came through and as I suggested in the preview on Saturday morning, Jack Stephens was in for Nathan Wood, that was a surprise but although there were eyebrows raised for that, even Stephen's biggest critics had to give him the praise that he deserved for his performance.

The other eyebrow raising was for the inclusion of Cameron Bragg, that was not such a success, not just for the fact that he would receive a red card on the stroke of half time, but we seemed to lack some balance on the right hand side.

I felt for Bragg he had had a decent game up to that point, he paid the price for getting caught on the ball twice. He is young and still relatively inexperienced and he will learn from this, in the end it didn't cost us.

The teams walked out to a wall of noise and 90% of it was from the Saints supporters, who drowned out the blue corner of St Mary's from all sides of the ground.

Saints took control from the start and it is an interesting fact that after the game we still had 51.4 % possession even though we had spent much of the second half on the back foot after being reduced to 10 men, that emphasised how dominant we had been up to that 44th minute red card.

The game was won in the 20th minute when a superb through ball from Finn Azaz saw James Bree on the end of it, he was struggling to get a clean strike away, but he manged to get a shot away and in it went to send St Mary's wild.

All was going to plan as the half time break loomed and then came that red card.

Pompey had 1 of their 3 efforts on target in the immediate aftermath of that sending off with Daniel Peretz having to get down and make a save, something he rarely had to do all afternoon, even in the second half, when Pompey piled forward but clearly had little quality either in the delivery of the ball in or in front of goal.

The end stats saw 16 attempts on goal from the visitors and only 7 from Saints, but the on target stat was even 3 each.

Indeed in the second half as Saints fought a rearguard action the best chance fell to Southampton shortly after the break when yet another brilliant crossfield pass sent Leo Scienza scuttling away on the left, he hit the shot well but the Pompey keeper got a hand to it to divert it over the bar.

This was just about Scienza's last action, on 57 minutes Tonda Eckert made a tactical substitution, Leo's strong point is going forward rather than defending and we needed to get that right and he went off to be replaced by Matsuki.

The game fell into a familiar pattern, Pompey poured forward and we would either clear the ball or it would end up as a goal kick to us and then the referee would keep up his two tier justice system in favour of Pompey.

That was best illustrated late in the game when Keven Schlotterbeck was booked for a foul on the Kingsland touchline, no arguments it was a hard tackle but a fould, it deserved a yellow card, but a few minutes later about 10 yard upfield Finn Azaz was cleaned out in a similar fashion and the referee gave a free kick but nothing else.

Referee Adam Herczeg struggled to control the game throughout and gave some strange decisions.

On 72 minutes Tonda made another tactical substitution, Cyle Larin was taken off and was replaced not by Divin Mubama as has been usual, but Caspar Jander, returning for his first appearance since the opening pre season friendly some 3 months ago.

That saw Jander into the midfield and Finn Azaz pushed up front, he worked tirelessly in holding up the ball and reliving the pressure and he was kicked off the park for his trouble by the visitors in blue.

But now we might only have 10 men on the pitch, but now the 12th man kicked in, we had around 29,000 off it who ramped up the support that had been excellent throughout the match, but the Saints fans found an extra leve.

I had again mentioned this in the preview, how the crowd had seen us home against Arsenal in the FA Cup last season and now they did so again in this one, the atmosphere was loud & proud and anyone who thought that after Spygate Tonda had lost the respect of his squad saw that notion dispelled, every one of them who played a part giving at least a 9.5 out of 10 performance and some adding that extra 0.5 for 10 out of 10.

We dug in and battled for every ball, we never gave up anything, never backed down an inch, this was a team a man short, but still staying strong and organised.

This was why Jack Stephens came in, I have never been one of his biggest fans, but I have always respected his commitment to this club and I find it hard to remember a better performance from him that this one.

Aided by Keven Schlotterbeck and full backs Bree & Manning, he held the back line.

As the game went into the final stages in the back of the mind was the fact that Pompey might nick an equaliser, but the longer it went on you felt that Pompey were a spent force, it was tense.

The crowd rose to it and roared the team home, one rendition of Oh When The Saints Go Marching In was possibly the loudest I have ever heard in St Mary's, it literally raised the roof, the whole ground drowning out the blue few in the corner and every Southampton fan on their feet in the 5 minutes of injury time.

No one was leaving everyone was seeing this one through.

When the referee blew the whistle it was like a pressure cooker being released, i reminded me of the play off final against Leeds with that song that I don't know the name of, being blasted out over the tannoy system and the endite ground acclaiming Tonda & his men.

For me although this was a truly team performance win, one man truly stood out and that was Finn Azaz, he not only played several different roles during the game including his makeshift centre forward cameo, but he once again was at the heart of everything including the pass for the match winning goal.

As this was going on the Pompey players walked sheepishly to their supporters and seemed to just stand there with their heads bowed in embarrassment, not just for their own woeful performance against 10 men, but for the fact they had to stand their in that cacophony of noise in front of the self proclaimed best fans in the world and listen and watch.

Then came the next song by the DJ, The Liquidator, not a song that I have heard played at St Mary's before and certainly not one the fans have joined in on.

But it seemed everyone had the same lyric in their heads and it was roared out, not lyrics really at home in today's modern football Sky Sports experience as men, women & children of all ages bawled out the phrase "F*ck off Pompey ! The Saints" at the surprisingly large number of Skates who were still in the stadium as their team stood like statues with their heads bowed in shame.

It was brilliant to walk out of the ground buzzing and afterwards the pubs and bars were packed with everyone celebrating a victory that we truly deserved.

In the cold light of Monday morning it is time to take stock of the situation, this was the perfect end to a week that saw us finally have the Sword of Damocles over Tonda Eckert's head lifted and we can get back to normal.

We have beaten our hated rivals and let us be honest both sides love to hate each other and whatever some on either side might say, the other lot are not an insignificance, this is not just about football, it is about two cities who have differing views on just about everything in life.

But there is a bigger picture, this has pushed us up to within a point of 5th place, the League table doesn't look too good in 11th, but at the moment it is not about distance in League places, but the points gap.

This season will be continually monitored by two benchmarks the one that will count come the end of the season with the 4 points taken off that sees us currently in 11th, or the one with the 4 points added back, which gives us the true position we would be with no deductions and we would be sat in 3rd this morning just 1 point off Middlesbrough in 2nd and 3 from Swansea who surprisingly sit top after losing just once this season their 3-1 defeat at St Mary's

The 2nd benchmark will mean nothing at the end of the season, but it shows us and the rest of the division where we truly stand as a team and gives us confidence that we can compete at the top of the League this season.

A big week has started with a big win, now we have to beat Norwich on Wednesday and then Bolton on Saturday to truly get the season going.

Via Reuters