Sometimes home wins are like buses, none come for ages then two come along at once, Saints fans don't care they saw their team pull out of the bottom three.
This was a game that was never going to be pretty, it was going to be a test of Saints spirit, nerve, patience and guts, playing flowing attractive football was never going to be high on the agenda.
As per my preview there was only the one change, out went Obafemi and in came Shane Long and it was a change that paid dividends.
Saints started well and got a firm grip on the game in the first half and were rewarded by a great goal, from a superb free kick from James Ward Prowse Danny Ings glanced the ball home to soothe the home nerves.
Now Saints were in control and Norwich barely registered in our half and a great header down from Shane Long was well met by Ryan Bertrand from close range in the 43rd minute, Saints almost made it three shortly after and only a great save from Krul kept Norwich in it, they were on the ropes and saved by the bell or in this case the half time whistle.
That meant that the third goal of the game was always going to be crucial, and for 20 minutes of the second half there looked to be only one team who would score it, Danny Ings was almost that man with a fine shot just past the post, but within a minute Saints had gone to sleep and the ball was in the net, sadly ours completely against the run of play.
The goal was not an individual error just a collective lapse in concentration, we failed to challenge for the ball on the half way line and let Norwich put through a ball to Pukki, he had got the wrong side of Cedric and Jack Stephens had failed to read the danger to cover, Pukki ran through unchallenged and hit a decent shot but Alex McCarthy had got his angles wrong and was beaten easily at the near post when he should have been a yard or two to his right.
This was bite your nails time for Saints and in the main the team dug in and made sure Norwich didn't get any clear chances to literally the final minute of injury time.
I,m not sure if we got it right with the subs, Romeu on for Djenepo was the right move to bring the player on, but in my opinion the wrong man came of Djenepo still had plenty of running in him.
Adams for Ings was the thing to do but the final substitution seemed to create chaos at the back rather than provide more cover, Yoshida came on and did not do anything wrong per se, but suddenly we had an extra man in defence and we were not sure who was meant to be marking who, too many players were leaving it to others and that gave Norwich their final chance that they thankfully missed.
Hard to pick a man of the match, the BBC chose James Ward Prowse and I can't argue with that, he again was involved with a goal turning provider for the first, he is unsung amongst some Saints fans, but his contribution should not be underestimated.
He was not alone though, Danny Ings not only scored but worked hard to create space and chances for others, Shane Long not only made the second goal, but was a handful and really should have had a penalty, Djenepo ran at defenders as did Nathan Redmond who although struggling to find form never hid and that is perhaps what exemplified this and recent performances, a team battered and bruised and short on confidence but have never stopped wanting the ball and have kept trying to do the right things.
I say this again, we are not a bad team, we are a good team with poor central defenders, i we had any two from any other Premier League team then we would be in the top ten.
But it was the result that counted and not the manner of it, after the torrid time we have had this season we were never going to be able to click our fingers and suddenly become a free flowing team who are tight at the back, but what we have become is a team with spirit who can only improve going forward especially if we can get in an experienced central defender in the summer.
The crowd was sparse but magnificent, a cold December evening sorts out the hard core and this was the hard core who got behind the team from the start to the finish and made a noise that raised the roof.
We are out of the bottom three and have something to build on, the next three games are crucial, again we need to set our expectations at a realistic level, 3 points will keep us placed to avoid relegation, four points will be good, five points excellent.
So we now have hope, we have a foundation to build on, the experience of the last two months was either going to break us or be the making of us, the last three games have given us the answer !