As Saints went into April they had started to breathe down the neck of 2nd place but they had little room for error.

After the win against MK Dons there was a new belief in the camp that automatic promotion was there for the taking, five points behind 2nd with three games in hand was a good place to be, but only if those games were won and there were some tricky times ahead.

The first of those games was against Charlton who were easily brushed aside 2-0 an early Guly goal settling the nerves, next up was a tricky visit to Leyton Orient

The big surprise on the previous Tuesday was that the crowd barely topped the 20k mark for such a big game, but that was forgotten as the red & whte army headed to the capital to make up around half the 7,714 attendance wwith many more going up for the day out, the 2-0 win was not as comfortable as it sounds in hindsight, Saints scored with 2 of their 3 shots on target and only had 3 off the mark, whereas Orient attacked in numbers having 10 chances without 1 on target, ironically the reverse of what usually happened in Saints games, the news after the game was that Huddersfield had only drawn and Saints were now 2nd on goal difference with two games in hand, the worm was turning.

Howwever this being Saints they soon threw one of those games in hand away, only three days later they were pathetic at Rochdale going down 2-0 with questions asked of Davis and harding on both goals, Saints had three times as many chances at Rochdale as at Orient, for long periods they dint play badly, just committed grave errors at bad times.

The Bristol Rovers home game was now crucial and Rovers were desperate men, they held out despite heavy Saints pressure, when Lee Barnard was stretchered offf it looked bad all round, 0-0 and Saints in form striker looking seriously injured,but with 8 minutes left Guly took over and scored a sublime goal, Saints had had 24 chances and scored only once, but with the next game being the unbeaten at home Champions Brighton it didnt matter.

The problem was for Saints as they headed to the Withdean was that defeat could swing the race for second the way of Huddersfield who the previous day had won at MK Dons to go back into 2nd, if Saints lost they would be 3 points behind with only one game in hand away to plymouth and with four games left most teams would be happier with the three points in the bag than a game in hand, the pendulum was swinging but where would it be at 5pm.

The game at the Withdean was tight and fillwed with tension not least because of the war of words stoked up by Gus Poyet and Brighton fans demanding aguard of honour, the first half therefore lacked much from Saints or the home side and was more of a party atmosphere on the home side stand, they expected to beat us and then have their party, on the stroke of half time it looked just that was  an error from Jaidi saw him hesitate and lay the ball short back to Davis, Barnes got their first and it was 1-0 to Brighton with barely time to kick off again.

Things now looked dire for Saints, Brighton were unbeaten at home in the league all season, Saints lacked firepower with Barnard now out for the season and Lallana nursing an injury that meant he was only on the bench for emergencies, up front Lambert was supporter by Guly and Forte, the sysstem didnt look right.

But these were emergencies so it was no surprise to see lallana emerge for the second half and not Forte, the balance of Saints looked a lot better and took control of the game, but time was running out and when the home keeper made a superb save from Guly it looked as if Saints would pay heavily for that mistake, certainly the taunts from the home fans were growing louder as they saw the final whistle looming.

On 76 minutes on came Connolly who had barely featured under Adkins, a last throw of the dice, eight minutes later it paid off as he turned and fired home an equaliser that if it didnt quite shuy up the home fans certainly subdued them somewhat.

But Saints fans knew this would not be enough even a draw would leave us two points behind Huddersfield, meaning that we had no leeway whatsoever all four of our final games would ned to be won, but then came perhaps the best moment of the season in so many way, both in what it meant in terms of points, what it meant in terms of momentum and what it  meant to be a Saints supporter in the Withdean at that moment in time, initially it didnt look promising, route one as Davis lofted a high ball into the Brighton box from our half, Fonte looked too far out and too wide to do anything but head it back across the area, but somehow it seemed to just drop at the right time and Saints fans couldnt believe it had dropped into the net, pandemonium ensued on the running track as players and fans celebrated as the announcer gave out five minutes of injury time, it was really that late in the game.

Injury time was tense, they had a couple of attacks but we dealt with them easilyalthough it didnt seem like that at the time, in the background Brighton fans had lost their appetite for a party and were filing out in their hundreds, the party was cancelled, they would have their celebration at the next game, they couldnt bear to see Saints celebrate as well.

In Yorkshire i can only imagine the Huddersfield fans aroud their radios and watching the scores on TV, with six minutes to go they must have felt that it had turned in their favour and in truth it was about to, but then came six minutes that changed the course of the promotion race and it was Saints who had darted forward towards the finishing line, now all they had to do was win two seemingly easy home games and one of the two away fixtures and goal difference would mean that would be enough.

Everything turned firmly in Saints direction in that six minutes on that sunny day in Sussex.           

Photo: Action Images

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