Tonda Eckert said he would be making a few changes for this match, but it was still a shock when the starting line up was announced, that when he said a few he meant 10 ! It was a clear indication of where the managers priorities lie and for the time being at least it is promotion.
In fairness to Eckert the starting line up showed the depth of the squad, only Cameron Bragg didn't have a long track record of experience at Championship level or above, although it was a shock to see so many changes, the real surprise was that the manager, didn't put much on the bench in the way of insurance, perhaps he thought that with the likes of Oriol Romeu, Ryan Manning, Sam Edozie & Cyle Larin in the side he didn't need it.
Aside from Danie Peretz in goal, only Finn Azaz and James Bree were names that most Saints fans would have heard of, by the end of the game I would hazard a guess that this game has set the record for the most first team debuts in the club's history since the first ever game in 1885.
In truth it was an awful game with few chances and although Leicester nearly took the lead on 35 minutes when it needed Ryan manning to head the ball off the line, many were already on the concourses when the deadlock was broken a minute into first half injury time.
Sam Edozie broke into the box and was brought down and the referee pointed to the spot, the big question was who would take it, one man did want the job and it was Cyle Larin who took the ball and fired it home into the bottom corner to send Saints into the break in a surprising lead.
The second half started with many choosing not to return to their seats straight away, in fact many preferred to finish their drinks and watch it of the TV screens on the concourses before returning to watch the game.
So many would have missed Oliver Skipp's acrobatic equaliser, the second half though was just as scrappy as the first, with many changes made, both sides had made 5 each before the 90th minute when the Foxes almost snatched a late winner, if they had you suspect that most of the home crowd would have cheered it, the thought of another 30 minutes of this game was not much to look forward to.
The last substitution though was the game changer, on came James Bree just before the half time break in injury time and in the 109th minute when a free kick taken by Ryan Manning reached the incoming James Bree at the far post and he headed home from close range to win the game.
There were still 10 minutes left to play and you wondered whether we had the experience on the pitch to see this one through, by this stage we had 4 players from the academy on the pitch plus the relatively inexperienced Cameron Bragg, however luckily the back four had all at some points of this season been first choice, so this was enough to keep it tight and Finn Azaz being the only non youngster in the forward six kept them going.
So we were through to the 5th round of the FA cup, ironically on the same date as we drew at West Bromwich Albion in the 5th round played in 1976, Bobby Stokes socred the equaliser on that day and Saints played in yellow shirts, although not the Admiral version, that this years 50th anniversary shirt is modelled on, that one was not unveiled until the teams walked out at Wembley on 1st May 1976.
But in many respects the result was more important than the performance as Tonda Eckert alluded to in his post match interview :
"I'm very pleased, today was a big day for the academy.
"It's a big day for the football club and just shows that we have a lot of talent coming up.
"We are making those steps to become a winning football team and that won't happen overnight but we are heading in the right direction to be able to win different games of football.
"The baseline is that we need to win and today we did that with a lot of energy and a lot of our young players on the pitch."
So although not a pleasing game to watch, it was a pleasing one in terms of it showed our strength in depth, not only in experienced players, but youngsters coming through the academy, yes Leicester had a few out themselves, but from our won perspective these kids got a taste of first team football and played their parts in winning the game.
We are through to the 5th round of the FA Cup, but more importantly we took a step forward in the spirit within the club, in a season where we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the greatest ever day in the history of this football club, it should be noted that we started that season with supporters up in arms about the way the club was being run and the manager himself, Lawrie McMenemy's stock had never been lower in the pre season of 1975.
His two seasons in charge had seen firstly relegation from the top flight and in his second season a mid season placing in what was then called Division Two.
But slowly he brought the hope back to the club and it's fans, there are many comparisons to be made from 1976 to 2026 a club pushing for promotion, but ultimately falling just short, but coming through the FA Cup rounds to reach Wembley and win at Wembley.
Could this happen again in this the 5oth anniversary year ? The odds say no, but following football clubs for most is more about hope than expectation.