Gaston Ramirez had perhaps his best game since his home debut at St Mary's back in September 2012, sadly it was not for Saints !
Gaston Ramirez starred for Middlesbrough last night as he had a hand in the goals as they rejuvenated their chase for an automatic promotion place after a shaky patch.
With Boro a goal down to Cardiff and 25 minutes on the clock the Ramirez show started, firstly his header was turned into the Cardiff net by one of their own players for an own goal, then just after the hour mark Ramirez himself scored with a side footed shot, before being tripped to win Boro a penalty that was subsequently missed.
On 83 minutes David Nugent made the game safe to cap a great night for both Middlesbrough and Gaston Ramirez.
This was perhaps his best game since his home debut in a 4-1 win over Aston Villa in September 2012 when he inspired to victory after being 1-0 down at half time.
If Saints fans hoped that would be the start of something big for Ramirez at the club (and they did) then they would be sadly mistaken, although he scored his first goal the following week at Everton Saints lost the game and he would only score another 4 after in that season and in doing so rarely hit the heights he did in that first full game other than the odd fleeting moment.
2013/14 was not a great one for Gaston and he scored only one Premier League goal, it turned out to be his last for Saints and was ironically on the ground he scored his first Goodison Park.
Since then he has rarely played for Saints and went on loan to Hull where he managed only a solitary in what was largely an unsuccessful time which ended with Hull relegated.
This season he was given his chance to impress Ronald Koeman and initially looked to have done so, his substitute appearance at Anfield sparking a late flourish in which he looked to have scored the last minute equaliser only to see Sadio Mane tap it over the line to claim the goal.
Hopefully Gaston will continue to impress at Middlesbrough, his time at Saints has been disappointing that cannot be denied especially when you consider the then record fee paid alongside the wages, he certainly has been a costly mistake.
But that has not been entirely his fault as he was played in a system that did not suit his style of play right from the very start of his time here, that system did not allow him to flourish as a ball playing midfielder ironically at the moment with Saints having relied on the pace of Shane Long and Sadio Mane his chance of succeeding at Saints was probably far higher than back in 2012 when he did not have an outlet for his talents in Saints style of play.
So good luck to Gaston Ramirez it would be nice to see him do well after a difficult four years for him.