The obvious heroes are emerging in the Saints side, but that isnt the full story of the resurgence.
All the headlines in Saints recent winning streak have been hogged by the obvious names, Rickie Lambert, Adam Lallana, Papa Waigo even Raidi Jahdi and David Connolly, but perhaps the two players who have contributed as much as most to the improvement but without the plaudits are Lloyd James and Paul Wotton.
In the early part of the season James found himself shifted from last seasons right back spot and shoehorned into the centre of the midfield, where he played well without excelling himself, even after Graeme Murty was injured he wasnt first choice for a return to the defence, that fell to Wayne Thomas, and it wasnt till Thomas himself was injured in the win against Yeovil that James found himself returned to the right back spot.
Since then both his and the teams fortunes have soared with four wins(Including Torquay) draw and only the defeat against Bristol Rovers being the result.
But a big part of those wins have been James ability to get forward and deliver a cross, OK he hasnt the pace of Gareth Bale, nor the skill of Jason Dodd, to name but two Saints fullbacks, but he can deliver a ball into the box and accurately as well.
Yes his pace doesnt allow him to get down the line, overlap and take on the full back, but give him the ball in between the half way line and goial area and he can whip it in quickly and accurately and this is starting to reap the rewards.
But as proved with the first goal at Oldham, he can also swap sides and take a good inswinging corner, his effort at Boundary Park teased the goalkeeper out of position and gave Dean Hammond a goal that was made simple by the accuracy of the corner.
When Graeme Murty returns from injury, at the moment its hard to see how he will get his place back.
Likewise Paul Wotton, he hasnt been convincing since his move from Plymouth in the summer of 2008 and it was hard to see how he would get a place in the side, two late sub appearances against Yeovil & Bristol Rovers totalling 12 minutes were his first pitch time in a month and it was hard to see how he would get much more.
But then he was handed a chance with the abscence of Schneiderlin against Gillingham and he took it with both hands and it is no coincidence that Saints have won every game since then.
Whilst I would agree that Wotton is not a pretty player and not everyones cup of tea, he has brought something to the side that was missing, prior to his arrival we lacked the killer instinct, we allowed players toover run us in the middle of the park, OK Wotton cant pass that well, but he breaks up the opposition and holds the shape of the central midfield, this is vital when we are employing a formation that allows for the roaming of Lallana and to a lesser extent Schneiderlin, so has to have some experience and discipline holding it, this has allowed us to get men forward when needed, with Wotton content to sit and hold.
In many ways this is reminiscent of the way Jimmy Case played for Saints, im not suggesting that Wotton is in Case' class, but then again Saints are two divisions lower then when Case played, Saints were playing pretty football and not winning before Wotton's was brought into the team, now they are winning the midfield battle's, earning the right to boss the game and scoring goals, before Wotton they had plenty of attacking flair with Lallana, Schneiderlin, Mellis & Wago but also too much youth and inexperience, to be fair Ilike many raised my eyebrows when Alan Pardew put Wotton back in the starting line up, but the manager had clearly spotted what was needed and took action.
So if Saints continue their winning ways and hopefully they will, it will be the likes of Lambert, Waigo, Hammond, Connolly & Lallana who will be the icing on the cake and the headline makers, but behind them will be the unsung heroes like James & Wotton, every team needs players like them and every teams fans often underestimate their worth.