It didn't go completely to the script for Saints, but they came back from being a goal down, to take the three points and give themselves a fighting chance of getting out of the relegation zone, this verdict could be titled Nathan Jones & The Temple Of Doom.

You could feel the tension in the air as you walked towards Goodison Park and the feeling was that this would be the last ever League visit for Southampton, that at least one of these sides would not be in the Premier League next season.

But the hope for the travelling Saints fans was that their team was one that has had their bad run and now they are ready to win football games and go on a good run, two wins in cup games in the past week had given the optimism for that, but now it needed to be done in the Premier League.

Although the atmosphere was tense, the Everton fans were determined to give their team their full backing during the game, their team bus arrived to a big welcome with pyrotechnics and banners, usually seen across Stanley Park when Liverpool play big games.

Inside Goodison, you could cut the atmosphere with a knife, but the backing for the home team was there, the Everton players looked ready to go for it and our job was to make sure that they didn't get a grip on the game and that we took control and then imposed ourselves on the game.

Initially things went to plan, it was an even game with both sides having their moments in front of goal, as half time approached it looked like Saints would be happy at the break going in on level terms and could then start to turn the screw.

But things took a turn for the worse when an Everton corner saw the ball headed home, it was hard to pick out who was meant to be marking Onana, but he got in a free header from close range and we were a goal down.

It wasn't the final drama of the half, James Ward Prowse almost scored with Jordan Pickford getting a hand to the shot and turning it on to the post.

At half time the mood was not buoyant amongst Saints supporters, so much so that a fair few missed the equaliser and had to pour up the stairs and into the stand to join in the celebrations as James Ward Prowse took a superb knockdown from Che Adams in his stride, went round a defender and slotted home giving Pickford no chance.

Now the game had changed, but it could still go either way, both sides still had chances, but the one that went in came with 12 minutes to go, Everton gave a away a needless foul on the edge of the box, then came a bizarre moment, the referee gave the free kick, but the position he indicated was several yard from where it appeared to have occurred, it was more central and this gave JWP a better position for the free kick.

Everton fans after were livid, they thought JWP had moved the ball, but it was definitely the ref who picked the spot, although seconds later it was Ward Prowse picking his as he left Pickford rooted and put the ball over the wall and into the goal, if I was an Everton fan I would be questioning Pickford's positioning, but I wasn't i was just celebrating with the rest of the away section.

Everton tried to throw everything at us, it was long ball all the way and their big men in the box, but we dealt with it well and could have increased the lead with a series of breaks.

The final whistle sparked two different reactions, where we were stood it was complete ecstasy as the team pushed their manager to the front to take the plaudits, but around us it was the total opposite, things were going toxic.

This was a big big win, in terms of League position it changed nothing, but the three points drew us level with Everton & West Ham and within two points of 4 other teams, we are the team in form and coming up on the rails, this could be a big advantage,

It was very much a team win, it would be hard to deny James Ward Prowse the accolade of man of the match, his two well taken goals aside, he led from the front and this was as good a game as he has ever played.

Those who criticised him earlier this season should note that he now has a more forward role, for the first part of the season he had to sit deep and play a different role, now Nathan Jones has changed the formation, Romeo Lavia and Ibrahima Diallo now sit deep and JWP has more licence to get forward and influence the game both in terms of goals and chances.

But it is not just this that has improved, the back line has been tweaked, Duje Caleta-Car has taken the central role and he is better suited to it than any of the other defenders, the team now seem to be getting used to the formation that is being employed and what is needed to make sure that it works well.

Critical to that are the wing backs, they have to make sure that the defence isn't exposed down the flanks.

It's not perfect yet, but we are getting there, Everton are not the best team in the division so we shouldn't get too carried away, but Jones is using his squad and starting to use it well.

The right substitutions were made at the right times , Adam Armstrong coming on for Samuel Edozie on the hour mark along with new signing "Charly" Alcaraz, changed the game, we looked far more threatening and the pace of both players unhinged the home team.

The final trio of subs in the 85th minute brough fresh legs and meant that Everton could not get a head of steam up for a big finale.

So a big win for Saints and one that should take some pressure off Nathan Jones, in football a week is a long time, at noon on Saturday 7th, it was fair to say that not many had much faith in the Welshman, by 1pm the anti Jones chants started in Selhurst Park, yet a week later he has three straight wins under his belt.

I said a week ago that sometimes there has to be a catalyst that sparks change and that the protest at Palace might just do that, this prediction seems to have come true, at least in the short term, but it does give us the hope that we can get something out of this season, no one at Palace gave us a hope of much in the next three games, yet here we are in the 4th round of the FA Cup, the semi Finals of the League cup and only two points off of safety in the Premier League.

I have always maintained that a lot of our issues this season have not been the quality of the squad as a whole, but injuries in key areas and of course the need for a striker that can score goals like he is shelling peas, not that anyone shells peas much anymore.

Hopefully now we can move forward, but we need to take note that like the Everton fans we need to back our team and for that matter all of our team and not get on the back of certain players.

I note that on the player ratings on here, most of our starting line up got more marks than Adam Armstrong, yet on the BBC website Armstrong was our top scoring player, likewise Diallo, he was low scoring, but a key player in holding the midfield.

The team that Jones has picked in the past 3 games has the right balance, as Lawrie McMenemy once famously said, in any side you need violinists & you need hod carriers, Diallo & Adam Armstrong fall into the latter category, they don't do the spectacular too often, but they do the basics and they work their socks off to make sure that the so called Violinists can strut their stuff.

At Southampton, too often although we praise the Violinists, we fail to recognise the contributions of the hod carriers, we remember the one or two bad balls and forget the 89 minutes of graft.

The Saints supporters up at Goodison Park were superb, they gave great noisy backing and stayed behind the team throughout, they were the 12th man.

Finally Nathan Jones, in 7 days he changed the perception of him, it is still early days, but he now deserves to be given a chance, yes one win in the Premier League out of 5 is not a good start, but we have to put the four defeats down to finding our best team, in the past week, it seems that the manager now knows a lot more about his squad and their abilities.

The good news is that whatever your views the squad now has two more players in it than before, both look to be improvements, so that has to be good.

A great result and a great battling team performance in what was a lions den, we didn't let it fluster us even when a goal down, we have reasons now to be optimistic.

Photo: Action Images

Ifonly added 11:54 - Jan 16 " it was hard to pick out who was meant to be marking Onana" It was Moi. I watched the highlights. This is not the first time that Moi has been a liability at corners. Hopefully someone will coach him on the basics that he should have got right years ago.
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davidpeach added 11:57 - Jan 16 For their goal, it looked to me on the highlights as if Salisu, no. 22 jumped to head the ball but missed it.
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SaintPaulVW added 11:59 - Jan 16 Good report. I think that whatever the fans initial thoughts on Nathan Jones, the players are clearly responding. Looking at 2 of the 'hod carriers' Arma and Diallo both look far more focused and confident under Jones. The defence also seems more organised with players seeming able to swap roles and shape as required. I was a Ralph in for the last few seasons but at the end it was obvious that his time was up. Whether this was just his ideas were exhausted- the premier league is a very intense competitive league - or just an erosion in belief by his players, change was needed. One thing, I'm hoping we don't see any more cricket scores with players looking forlornly at each other. I think the one thing Jones needs - and he did seem better on Saturday- is media training. He cannot have been used at Luton to providing instant televised analysis after each game. He needs to learn to deliver a calm consistent message and deflect where needed. In Stats it was a very even game, both sides even pinging one off the posts. However we took our chances, defended very solidly, Caleta- car did the straightforward stuff well, Salisu his usual interceptions and Lyanco his bulldozing runs and everyone put a shift in. As you say players like Eli, Arma and Diallo need to play well but don't need to be noticed. JWP, KWP Lavia, Edozie and Bazunu all did the flashy stuff well. Jones set the team up well and made changes at the right time. We are right back in the mix. Hopefully we can grab some more points from these next few games. Going to need at least 21 from the second half of the season, so if we can grab a couple of wins over the next month that will be a big help. COYR - thanks for making my weekend!

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SaintPaulVW added 11:59 - Jan 16 Sorry for the essay lol
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Ifonly added 12:00 - Jan 16 ... and another thing I noticed only from the highlights was Che's contribution to the winning goal. He won the ball on the edge of our box and started the move forward (quickly, which is often the key to success). He then got forward himself in time to draw the foul on the edge of their box. Watching the slo-mo you can see him getting his body in the way of Gordon's challenge. Without him, we would not have scored this goal. Of course we wouldn't have scored the first goal without him either - a great header just where JWP needed it. Che gets slagged off for his finishing but his all round contribution often goes unnoticed.

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HythePeer added 12:07 - Jan 16 Saints is a different team, JWP is a different player, the manager is a different person.
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Ifonly added 12:13 - Jan 16 Nick I see you've reverted back to giving NJ a chance. I guess that means you've changed your mind then from what you said after the Fulham and Forest games. I hope you and the other knuckleheads on here who were calling for him to go after just a couple of games will remember that the next time we have a bad performance. Because there will be more bad performances, I'm sure. Personally I still think we'll be relegated but when we get our next bad run of results, I wont be booing the manager or saying his football is shit. I hope others wont be either.

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davidargyll added 12:16 - Jan 16 More word-eating required! I always look at Saints’ games with a dispassionate - and hopefully fair - view so try not to get too carried away when we win and ditto when we lose. That said after the Forest game, I really didn’t think under the current management we had an earthly of staying up. Clearly we are not out of the woods yet but against Everton I think we did come out very fair winners and if nothing else we can now say there is at least one worse team in the PL. OK their goal was pretty good and they could easily have had a second when they hit the bar, but equally both JWPs were real class and he could have had a couple more but for superb saves by Pickford. And it was great to see Charley Alcaraz really helping out in defence when he came on and being much appreciated by the team. In the last week I would say that there has been a “Sod all the criticism, show them what we can do”-type attitude from the players and of course from Nathan Jones in the last three games. Call it a bunker-mentality if you like but whatever they’re on, let’s give them more! And hats off to the lot of them. But can they keep it up, that is the question? Well, if attitude and graft is any indication, then most certainly. Furthermore, the World Cup hangover is continuing to have a very real affect on the top teams, if recent results are anything to go by: almost every team is having an absurdly up and down season, so that surely can play into our hands as well. And wouldn’t it be great to put one over on Villa on Saturday especially if we can show Danny Ings what he is missing…

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aceofthebase added 12:21 - Jan 16 Pickford was rooted to his spot because teams are trying to rush a defender to the near post so that GK can cover the far post. It worked a week ago, was it CPalace but this time the defender did not have time to run back and take his position. Defenders are reluctant to place early a defender at the post because it would put all attackers onside.
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PaleRider added 12:26 - Jan 16 All I want to see is the players try - this was absent up t the Palace cup game but the last week has turned things around. I was very pessimistic before that game. Ten days later, I am not optimistic but I feel we have a FIGHTING chance! Time to give the manager and the team our full backing until the end of the season and then let's see where we are.
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Ifonly added 12:33 - Jan 16 davidpeach - yeah the ball did go over Salisu's head (no problem with that - that's just what happens at corners) but he wasn't the one marking Onana. In the highlights you see a Saints player marking Onana with his hands on his chest. From one of the angles you can see the 24 on the back of his shirt (Moi). Onana just walks straight through him and has an unchallenged header.

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SaintNick added 12:36 - Jan 16 A Few Comments SaintPaul, Dont be sorry for the essay, I want to see people discussing points, not just 1 line comments Ifonly - I have always given Nathan Jones a chance, what I said after the defeats were that I found it hard to see a way forward under him, I couldnt see any real tactics or leadership, I always balanced that up by saying that several Saints managers had endured torrid starts to the job and had gone on to greater things. I at no point demanded he went after only two games. Ace- I dont think Everton even tried to get a player back on the post, the wall stood riveted and so did the keeper who was totally out of position

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StRipper added 13:14 - Jan 16 After that result on Saturday, I am happy to eat humble pie and acknowledge that the evidence would be that I know very little about football management. Like everyone else, I could see no way forward for us after the Forest game. My god, what a transformation. We now have movement to make players available to receive the ball, rather than static players and a bit of aimless walking about. We have continued the fluidity about our attacking, that we carried on from Man City play. Something that we had lost. It also seems that we are less predictable and that there is less pressure on particular players (e.g. Che and JWP) to deliver the goods in their constrained role. The net effect has been better passing and players looking to be enjoying themselves again. Similarly, Jones making proactive timely changes to the team, to give us an edge rather than as a reaction to losing control of the match. Well done Saints, Jones and the fans who have been awesome the past few games.

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Peterx added 13:25 - Jan 16 I thought we had no chance after Forest, happy to eat my words. Kudos to NJ for getting a tune out of Lyanco and Diallo, as well as Mara and Djenepo against MC, AA against Palace and Everton later, and JWP with his positioning further forward getting him into the goals. NJ seems to be better at chopping and changing and getting results which to me with RH if Stu was not playing then we had zero creativity mostly. A big factor currently is with Lavia now being available for selection though, although we did not have him against Palace and still pulled it off. But he seems to be a major factor in getting results. But bottom line is I can't think of players who have gone backwards under NJ whereas there are a few who are better over the last 3 games. And we have had some luck going our way which is great (Ayew, Calvert Lewin, MC underestimating us and starting with their second string). Will take a point against Villa right now to keep the confidence and building project going. Would still like a relatively decent extra striker.

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JoeEgg added 13:32 - Jan 16 I made the point before the Everton game that we need to find players that CAN SCORE US GOALS. Our defence isn't perfect yet but still appears to be improving game by game. Moving JWP forward was a master stroke and a major factor in our victory at Everton. Adams and Armstrong will run themselves into the ground and with a proven goalscorer alongside either of them could completely transform the end result. Certainly to rescue this season the missing piece or pieces in the jigsaw appear now to be tantalisingly close.. When Saints revert back to being recognised as a team that go for GOALS we will soon fly the relegation nest!

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lemmsy added 13:59 - Jan 16 A few points Nick , the Everton defender did start to move back towards the goal on the free kick but it was a half hearted effort. I like most thought we were doomed after the forest game but what a turnaround. The palace game was one of those where things just went our way but sometimes you need that .Man City was a revelation & proud of our team. Everton was50/50 great character & spirit but could have gone either way & personally I felt we were better against Fulham. There’s a long way to go but we go into it with pride & spirit

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ItchenNorth added 14:01 - Jan 16 The JWP first goal was quality. Nice free kick as well. Saints play better with JWP in a more forward position. It's like when we had Romeu sitting or at start of the season Lavia holding. This allows JWP to get on the front toot more. He was wasted playing deep in games, but with our injuries, that's were we had to play him. Great 3 points. Now we need to back that up with something vs Villa, if not 3 again.

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underweststand added 15:34 - Jan 16 Firstly, yet another record gone west. First win at Goodison for 25 years. Thank goodness. Secondly I noted that some of the perpetual Prowsey critics have all gone quiet over there. 12 years on from his debut, JWP hasn't always been first choice with every manager, and on occasions has played the more advanced role we saw on Saturday - and with success. However, in good times and bad he has always shown good positional play, often turning up all over the pitch when lesser talents have failed to carry out their shift properly. I really like him in the more attacking role, and aside from his free kick (where he had Pickford playing statues) his first goal was a class finish worthy of the best goal poacher. Three valuable points in what truly was a " 6 pointer ", but with the Villa game next week, we really need to win that one before embarking on the upcoming series of Cup games.

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Colburn added 16:56 - Jan 16 Wow... I can't believe you're trying to claim some credit for being (as if only puts it) a knucklehead at Selhurst by abusing our new manager after 3 games.. Do you really think that was a catalyst? Or are you just desperately trying to avoid having to eat your words.. Incredible piece of failed manipulation of the facts. Quite simply, we have a guy in charge in Jones who has terrier like determination, intelligence and drive. He clearly understands how to assess a situation and make the necessary improvements within a few weeks, not months, a few weeks.. I don't know about time to give him a chance... Time for you to get some help... As I said in all previous posts, give him time to learn, adapt and show what he can do. There's a long road ahead for sure but he's already changed the mentality, released the shackles on the violinists and bred new found belief and confidence in the squad, rotating and learning as he goes and what a week! Fair play to you St.Ripper... Yes Moi was marking Onana but why not mention all the incredible work he does in games instead of poking.. Everton had a plan to deal with the JWP free kicks and JWP along with Salisu sussed out the plan and timed the taking of the free kick perfectly before their guy could get back on the line. Clever in-game awareness. Onwards and upwards! Come on Saints! Come on Nathan!

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IWOZTHERE added 16:59 - Jan 16 I'm a rare visitor lately but it's refreshing to read balanced views on here rather than the toxic nonsense on the Echo site... Nick, I'm sure you keep a firm hand re 'moderation' and identifying fraudulent names. Don't let troublemakers invade your site. I have a few allegiances on the other site so I continue, but with so many frauds and clones, and the lack of 'policing' they've let the site become a joke. Well done you!

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aceofthebase added 18:17 - Jan 16 Saint Nick I'm older than you but can still see the defender trying to get back and that is why after the ball hit the net Pickford put his arm out indicating 'where were you?'.
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Jellybaby added 18:33 - Jan 16 Well it's taken the best week that Saints have had for many a long moon to get Nick and others back on an even keel. The panic and in some cases vitriol levelled at NJ was quite a sight to behold. The truth is, in the relegation battle there is absolutely all to play for and NJ will know that this Saints appointment is an incredible opportunity for him, I have a sneaking suspicion now that with his energy and enthusiasm he just may make this work!

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IanRC added 18:35 - Jan 16 Underweststand, how true. So good to see JWP getting the credit he deserves (in fairness RH played him further forward until the injuries intervened). What a shame the England manager doesn’t see his amazing talents and perseveres with lumps like Phillips and Rice.
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wessexman added 18:41 - Jan 16 When NJ was appointed, I was gob smacked. My mood was not lightened by the dismal performances after the world cup. The three consecutive wins, apart from Man City, were not convincing but, they showed resilience and fight. Especially the Everton game saw a Saints team which prevailed in one of the most hostile environments ever encountered by SFC. For me, the jury is still out on NJ. But, if we can despatch Villa on Saturday, I'll start believing. I'll be very happy to ear humble pie on NJ.

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PezzaSaint added 19:11 - Jan 16 In the absence of a proven Premier League goal scoring forward at the club currently it is essential that JWP is played further forward in every game. We had 5 efforts on target on Saturday and JWP had 4 of them. He had a classy game on Saturday and was extremely effective in the more advanced role. My other observation is that NJ is building some very positive relationships with the squad. Loved the interactions with the players after wins against City and Everton. Just hope that NJ has now built that trust needed with his squad to get the most out of them. He loves the siege mentality from the squad!

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