Pompey arrived to play Saints with a game plan and they stuck doggedly to it to earn a point, but it made for a game that was hard to watch for the fans of either side, at the end there was only one set of fans celebrating.
The Saints line up was pretty much as I had predicted in the preview, we reverted to a back four with the inclusion of debutant winger Tom Fellows with Finn Azaz playing just behind lone striker Cameron Archer.
The stats made just as hard reading as watching the game, only one shot on target for either side, Pompey came out of the traps first and for the first 10 minutes, they pressed hard and Saints struggled to get the ball down and play and St Mary's held their breath as the visitors hit the bar.
But after that the game fell into a pattern that would continue throughout the game, they dug in parked the bus and humped the ball long, the first half saw us trying to play football, but we had no time on the ball as Pompey pressed hard and when we did get forward we were met with a solid wall as their rear guard dug in and when we did get the ball into the box we had the small Cameron Archer trying to out jump their tall central defenders, it was never going to work.
Archer is a player that likes to get onto balls played to him in the channels, yet we were going down the wing, we could not get the ball down and play forward balls due the the Pompey high press.
Second half saw us looking more determined and we looked lively, but by now Pompey were truly digging in, chances were fee and far between and when we did get the ball into the box the visitors usually had 9 men in there to make sure we didn't have any room.
The big surprise is how long Will Still took to make changes, the first one did not take place until the 74th minute a triple change that saw Caspar Jander on for Flynn Downes and Ross Stewart & Adam Armstrong replacing Cameron Archer & surprisingly Finn Azaz.
Armstrong livened up the game and we looked more likely to score than at any other time, but I would contend that when we made our second change with Leo Scienza & Jay Robinson replacing Fellows & Fraser, that it upset our shape a little, we now had changed half the outfield starting 10 in just 8 minutes.
We had a lot more of the ball getting into the box, but it was packed with Pompey players and they were near to the finish line and determined to get their hard earned point.
You hoped for a late winner and there was the odd occasion when it looked likely, but it just wouldn't fall for us.
For a set of supporters who repeatably tell us that we are forever in their shadow and they don't case about us, the Blue Few seemed to celebrate as if they had won the FA Cup, for us this was two points dropped, but for them it was the greatest game of the last 6 years since we slaughtered them at Fratton Park in the League Cup.
So a disappointing day for Southampton, yes we didn't lose, but the most important thing was to win this game and see us rise to the edge of the play off places and we failed to to that.
In truth we could have done without this game coming straight after the international break, not only did we have 5 players in the squad who could potentially make their debut, 4 of them did, as well as Finn Azaz making only his second appearance, we were also missing Damion Downs who was the last to return after the International break, leaving him tired after a long haul flight.
This was a tough game for anyone to make their debut in let alone bedding in 4, we could have done with this coming a week or two later.
The referee didn't help, he gave a number of decisions against us and at times seemed to give a foul against us every time a Pompey player fell over, he also let them time waste from almost the first minute when it was clear that Portsmouth had come to spoil, not take us on in a game of football.
There were plus points, we looked more comfortable with a back four and although Pompey got in some dangerous crosses and balls into the box, we dealt with them well and they rarely looked like converting any of them.
We got a lot of the ball and we failed to utilise that to the extent we should have, you have to give Pompey credit here, they gave us no time to control the ball and pass it and when we did they cut off the lines of supply to our forwards.
If we had scored at any time it would have meant Pompey having to come out a bit more to look for an equaliser and that would have opened out the game and given us more room both inside and out of the box.
There is still a long way to go in this season and we won't be playing our local rivals getting every man behind the ball every week, yes we didn't create and score in this game, but now we have settled our back four, we can work on the creative side of things and to be honest we now have a lot of options.
This was a big disappointment for Saints supporters, it was a wake in the pubs afterwards and not a celebration, this perhaps highlights the difference between the two clubs over the last decades, for them this was their biggest game in 6 years, their 2nd biggest in 13 years and for us it was a disaster.
The two clubs may be in the same division this season, but the gulf is just as wide, form is temporary, class is permanent.
Southampton supporters were magnificent, drowning out the away support and keeping going throughout the game, it was just a shame that we didn't score if we had you would have heard the roar 18 miles away.