Saints won two Premier League games in a row for the first time since before Xmas as they beat Fulham with a fairly comprehensive performance that was only briefly in doubt to give us a platform to end the season with a flourish.
Saints carried on where they left of in midweek with Ralph Hasenhuttl only making two changes from the side that beat Crystal Palace, Alex McCarthy coming back in goal as per the manager's rotation strategy and Mohamed Salisu replacing the injured Jan Bednarek.
From the start it was clear Saints were focused and were determined to make this a second win in a week.
Fulham showed why they have been relegated, they had a lot of possession but did very little with it, rarely threatening the Saints goal.
But they were disciplined at the back and were not going to make it easy for Saints and clear chances were few and far between, on 27 minutes though there was one, a James Ward Prowse free kick went across the six yard box and Che Adams swept home.
From then on it seemed there would be only one winner and on the hour mark Nathan Tella swept home a glorious inch perfect cross from Kyla Walker Peters just 98 seconds after coming on as a sub.
But from looking so comfortable Saints shot themselves in the foot with 15 minutes left, they were over passing and at times seemed to pass themselves into cul de sacs and when they did , too often instead of doing the basics they tried something fancy to get out of it and got caught out.
Suddenly we were caught napping and Carvalho smashed the ball home.
Now suddenly Fulham sensed they could get something out of the game and you wondered whether this was going to be yet more points dropped from a winning position.
But this feeling was fleeting, Tella who had revitalised the attack when he came on played a lovely back heeled pass and Theo Walcott hit a shot that deflected past the keeper to make it 3-1 and Fulham were clearly finished.
So a great win that showed that despite what some would say there are some great foundations to build on.
At the back Mohamed Salisu showed that he can become a great player with just a little more experience, he can read the game in a way than none of our other centre backs are able to do and makes it look easy.
Jack Stephens had a decent game, he made a great saving tackle at one point, but he lost concentration for the goal and let Cavalho peel off him, this for me showed where we are as a squad, I have often criticised Stephens, but I don't rant about him, I don't demand he never plays another game for the club, he is a great squad player who can come in and do a job, but he has this fatal concentration flaw that is exposed.
This is harsh on a player who otherwise didn't put a foot wrong, but at the back you can't afford to switch off at this level or you get punished. Stephens was far from the only culprit in this game or indeed this season, but at the back you get punished more.
Football is a squad game, Jack Stephens is part of our squad and is at the heartbeat of the club, but it is a certain role he has to play.
James Ward Prowse was immense in midfield and for me was the man of the match, he has had to play a more withdrawn role of late but he can make a tackle and win the ball, however it does take something away from our forward play, Stuart Armstrong does replace some of that, but his is a different style of play than JWP.
Perhaps the answer will be if Ralph sticks with 3 at the back next season when we can have Oriol Romeu holding and both JWP and Armstrong in front of him.
Nathan Redmond did not have a great game and in truth should not have played 90 minutes, indeed the problem was that as the game entered the final 20 minutes we were visibly tiring with both Minamino and Redmond losing possession too often and Fulham were getting the ball too easily and able to surge forward, eventually leading to a goal.
Theo Walcott came on for the last 15 minutes and put in his best display since before Xmas and a couple of minutes later Ralph put on Diallo to replace the tiring Armstrong to add a more solid look defensively and make sure the visitors didn't get an equaliser.
Up front Che Adams showed what a good player he is, he is not appreciated by some, but he is a clever player and can score goals, this was his 9th and only 16 players in the Premier League have scored more.
This was a game that was not just about the result, but about Ralph Hasenhuttl finding out a few things for next season.
From that point of view there were some pleasing notes he would have made and yes of course we do need to make a signing or two, but we are stronger than the end of last season and our issues in the new year were not about a poor team playing badly, but a good team decimated by injury plus some appalling refereeing decisions, but mainly it was about the injuries.
From the points total it moved us up the table and with Burnley losing and Brighton drawing puts us in a strong position in the race for 13th and indeed a shot at 12th.
Time for positivity and on Tuesday night a return of the fans to St Mary's for a tough game against Leeds United which will be a tougher test than we got from Fulham.