Saints put out a virtual second string side and for the most part of the game coasted past Blackpool, but the Lancashire side staged a late rally to make the pulses race a little bit in St Mary's.
The game was a repeat of the same round back in 1976 when Saints beat Blackpool 3-1 and went on to win the cup and there were many similarities in the game that some will pick on as omens.
The scores were almost the same, the crowd in 2023 was only slightly less than in 1976, a Saints player got 2 goals and perhaps the main coincidence we went through to the 5th round.
But that is where the coincidences will perhaps stop, our opponents back in that 5th round were West Bromwich Albion up at the Hawthorns and sadly the Baggies or the Throstles as they were known back then can't keep their part of the bargain after losing at Bristol City yesterday.
Nathan Jones made sweeping changes for this game with even James Ward Prowse sitting out this one, it was good to see Armando Bella-Kotchap back, but the talking point pre game was why Romeo Lavia was starting this one and didn't start against Manchester City, although it seems he needs to build up his game time, playing him for 87 minutes in this one with a tough League Cup semi final on Tuesday coming up seemed strange.
The fringe players stepped up to the plate, for nearly 75 minutes or so we dominated the game, two superb goals from Romain Perraud gave us a comfortable lead just after the hour mark, but we had a lapse of concentration on 67 minutes to allow a glimpse of hope for the visitors and although initially it didn't look to change the game much, they fired up in the final 10 minutes and made it a nervous ending for Saints fans with a tense 6 minutes of injury time.
But at the final whistle only one thing mattered and that was the score and the fact that we were in the 5th round of the cup.
The two goals were both a pleasure to watch, when we were awarded a free kick just outside the Blackpool box this was JWP territory, but he wasn't on the pitch, up stepped Romain Perraud to smash it into the bottom corner in an effort that James Ward Prowse would have been proud of.
The second saw Perraud excel again, he played a lovely little one two and then finished with aplomb.
It is hard to put this game in any kind of context other than the result, this was a much changed Saints team and although all of the players that took part in the game aside from goalkeeper Will Caballero have been first choice players at some point, only Romeo Lavia can truly claim to be a first choice at the moment.
Saints had Caballero to thank on a couple of occasions with some smart saves and some key punches when under pressure.
Perhaps this shows the gulf between the Premier League and the Championship, we are at the bottom of our League yet our second string can still win comfortably against opposition from the League below, with all respect to Blackpool.
So from perhaps all aspects this game was a success for Saints, firstly we won the game, we rested some key players for Tuesday night, we didn't pick up any injuries, our fringe players showed that they can step up to the plate, it is very hard to find any negative points from this game.
It was also good to see a decent crowd, after empty seats for the Manchester City Carabao Cup tie, I thought this one would be far less, but in the end was only a couple of thousand short, given that City had over 3,000 fans down and Blackpool only had around 1,000, there were perhaps more Saints fans who were in St Mary's to see Blackpool than there were for Manchester City, that one is a little strange, but it was great to see so many kids in the ground and hopefully they will want to come back again.
So now all eyes will be on the draw for the 5th round, this will take place on Monday 30 January from 7pm and will take place during the One Show on BBC One, and ahead of the clash between Derby and West Ham.