Saints once again came good at the right moment.
For 84 minutes Saints looked to be doing again, exactly what they have done far too many times on the road this season, that is dominate a game with the lions share of possession and chances yet find themselves behind to a goal from an individual error.
During the first half Saints looked to be well in command and although they hadnt really stretched Brighton too much, as the game headed to first half injury time the visitors were good value for what looked like being a scoreless first half, the Jaidi failed to clear a ball on the edge of his own penalty area, in truth at this stage of a game just before the break he should have put it into row Z (Ok there isnt a row z in the Theatre of tree's but he should have at least put it into row F) but Jaidi tried to be too clever and laid it back to Davis, he left the keeper sold short and barnes nipped in to tuck it away for a lead that the home side didnt deserve.
The second half went pretty much the way of the first as brighton were again happy to defend deep and look for Saints to again shoot themsselves in the foot, as the game entered the last ten minutes it looked like Saints had blown it, they had thrown everything at the Seagull's and in turn Brighton had thrown everything in the way to keep their lead, but then on 84 minutes Connolly swivelled and the ball hit just about the only thing the Saints fans could see clearly from the worst away section in the land and that was the back of the net.
This stunned the home support to our left who had spent much of the game taunting Saints fans and Nigel Adkins in front of them, just as they were cranking it up we equalise.
But it got better, at that stage most Saints fans would have taken a draw but as the clock hit 90 minutes a free kick was floated to the far edge of the six yard box, Fonte appeared to be headingg it across goal, but then time appeared to stop, from where I was stood the Brighton players seemed to be able to do nothing but watch it, my first thought was that the referee had blown up for an infringement and then Lambert seemed to be in the net with the ball and pandemonium broke out in the Saints end.
When it had all died down there were six minutes of injury time to endure, which to be fair seemed to stretch but Brighton didnt really threaten, their supporters who were so desperate for that guard of honour and only ten minutes earlier had been ready to celebrate, suddenly were heading for the exits in droves, the league 1 title forgotten as they suddenly found that they couldnt take defeat in the manner they couldnt take winning, ie with decorum.
The final whistle sparked further scenes of celebration as make no bones about it, the promotion race again swung back to Saints.
Overall it was a strong performance from Saints, Nigel Adkins was bold with his team selection playing a 4-3-3 formation with Gobern slotting into the midfield and working hard alongside the recalled Chaplow and Hammond,
Up front Forte offered pace although to be fair Saints were much improved with the introduction of Lallana at half time, but this was a game when Saints stepped up to the plate, every man was up for it and every man was immense.
This is why we go to football for moments like this and the fact that we also have to live through bad times makes the good all that more sweeter, at 5pm on Saturday evening Huddersfield fans must have been feeling the same way that we were 24hours earlier, they must feel that promotion is slipping aay, this was a big big moment for Saints in the promotion battle both in terms of points and more importantly psycologically.