In a game that first went one way and then the other as Saints came through a tough test with their pride intact to earn a hard fought point and keep up the challenge for the top six.
Saints came from behind to control the first half and put Chelsea on the back foot for much of it and then survived a second half battering to hold on and prevent Chelsea getting their usual three points at home
Ronald Koeman again made several key changes with Toby Alderweireld coming into the centre of defence at the expense of Yoshida and Pellet being rested and Shane Long coming in, the Saints tactics were clear, hold it tight at the back and go at them with pace.
Initially though it didn't go our way, Chelsea caught us napping at the back after 10 minutes and it looked like it might be a long afternoon, however the goal seemed to wake Saints up and on 19 minutes the visitors were level with Mane being brought down in the box and Tadic stayed cool to net the penalty.
From then on the rest of the half was controlled by Saints and they had chances to take the lead, the whole team was putting in a shift and doing there job, Alderweireld's return gave the defence a more solid look at both Bertrand and Coyne looked to be getting forward FA more than they have in recent weeks.
In midfield Wanyama and Schneiderlin anchored with Davis continually harassing and chasing.
Up front Shane Long does what he does well, he battled and chased and Mane was a continual threat, but the fact is we couldn't add to the scoreline and you had the feeling that we might pay the price in the 2nd half for not taking an opportunity or two.
Five minutes into the second half and Chelsea were looking to get on top and enjoyed a period of dominance, but Saints stuck to their task, no one hid and everyone run their socks off to make sure that Chelsea didn't get a second, Fraser Forster pulled off a few decent saves when the home side did get sight of goal.
Again Koeman made substitutions at the right time bringing on fresh legs in the closing period.
It cannot be denied that Saints had to ride their luck at times, but you make your own luck and ours held because we never gave up running and when we got the ball we never gave up trying to play the ball rather than hoof it aimlessly.
Even at the death it was tense and Chelsea had three efforts in quick succession when they really should have scored from one of them, but Saints had come a long way and were not going to give the game up that easily.
It was a point well earned and gives Saints renewed confidence for the final nine Ames of the season, this was a point that we hadn't counted on and puts us 8 points clear of Stoke in 8th, this is a big gap to make up at this stage of the season another win and that could see us virtually guaranteed of 7th place.
But we want more than that and the next few games will be crucial with our rivals playing each other and having to drop points, we really have the opportunity to make the last 9 games something special and given our performance this afternoon at Stamford Bridge we should Ave every confidence in our own ability to achieve at least a top six finish and perhaps something more.