Wrexham's win on Friday evening meant that Saints could not really afford to drop points at Coventry, a difficult task given that the Sky Blues had only lost once at home in the Championship all season, but they had not reckoned with the spirit in Tonda Eckert's squad.

The team news was not good from the Coventry Building Society Stadium this morning, we expected Leo Scienza to be missing, but perhaps not Ross Stewart, so there were 3 changes made by Tonda Eckert from the side that drew at West Brom.

Bragg & Larin came in for the injured duo and Jander replaced Shea Charles who dropped to the bench.

This was never going to be a comfortable watch for Saints supporters, all the talk before the game was about Coventry's return to the Premier League which was seen as odds on after despatching Saints.

That seemed to be the pre match atmosphere which although sold out in the away end, had a lot of seats available in the home sections, around 300 short of their best attendance, which was surprising given the importance of the game.

The pattern was set early on, this was always going to be about defending stoutly and looking to go on the break and if Tonda Eckert had written the script his team stuck doggedly to it.

The first half ended 0-0 and Saints would have been the happier team, the only real hiccup being a header that Daniel Peretz saved brilliantly, but it got happier 3 minutes after the break.

You thought that the ball was going to be spread to the left wing where Manning was waiting to overlap, but it went out to the right and then to Matsuki whose curling shot was just about tipped on to the post by the keeper, but there was Flynn Downes to smash the ball home from close range.

Saints now had the game in their control and seemed to be able to deal with Coventry's attacks with ease.

The spine of the team was strong, Peretz, Harwood-Bellis, Downes, Azaz with Larin foraging up front.

However the worry was who was going to come off the bench, Larin was never going to make 90 minutes and had run his socks off, would we run out of steam.

Shea Charles came on for Cameron Bragg with 23 minutes to go with Larin also departing for Cameron Archer, would losing the big presence of Larin be missed.

The answer was no and we seemed to be able to keep things tight.

We looked to have made the game safe in the 85th minute when a corner was guided in from the boot of Matsuki, truth is he might not have known much about it, but it went in so who cares.

So surely we were now safe, of course we weren't, this is Saints, with Coventry player going away from goal and being chased by Shea Charles, their man went down and the ref pointed to the spot.

Was it a penalty, the answer was yes, but I don't blame Charles, Torp for the sky Blues was clever, he slowed down and left his leg trailing, Charles trod on his foot and down he went.

Peretz was given no chance with the spot kick and now the home side were back in it with at least 7 minutes of injury time to be played.

Now it seems comfortable, the only real scare when Coventry has a trio of efforts that were firstly blocked by our player, secondly blocked by their player who was offside to be pedantic and thirdly straight at Daniel Peretz.

When the final whistle went cue much celebrating by players and fans alike, we had won the game and sent a message to both Wrexham and Hull that we are now the undisputed form team in the division.

So who was man of the match ?

The answer is hard to give, no one was below an 8 out of 10, some were more visible than others, but no one gave less than 100%, however there were several players who were 101%.

This was the spine of the team, hats off to Daniel Peretz who had his best game in a Saints shirt, not just because of the superb save, but also his general all round play in commanding his box.

In front of him Taylor Harwood-Bellis who seemed to win everything thrown at him.

In the centre of midfield Flynn Downes was also very visible, especially with the opening goal.

Any three of them could have been Man of the match with 101%, however there was one man who had 102%, but most of his work was not so visible.

That man was Finn Azaz, he was tireless and seemed to pop up all over the pitch, it was not about long raking passes or goals, it was being the man who made the side tick, winning the ball or receiving it and then moving it quickly to a team mate.

Often just 4 or 5 yards, suddenly turning defence into attack.

He is perhaps one of those players who are unsung and overlooked, Nick Holmes & David Armstrong from earlier eras spring to mind, as do the likes of Barry Horne, Steven Davis, Oreol Romeo over the years, never really appreciated till they were gone.

Azaz is one of those players, watch him over 90 minutes and see how he gets and moves the ball, in recent weeks he has flourished in Tonda Eckert's system, in fact he is critical to it.

He has a roving role, one minute he is back defending and the next moving the ball on in the opposition final third, he just tidies things up in the middle third of the park.

Thankfully there was no repeat at the final whistle of the scenes instigated by Coventry manager Frank Lampard, Tonda Eckert showed that he has calm and he has class whether we win or lose.

The German kept his head, which is more than can be said for Lampard who is far from keeping his head of hair and is fast sporting a Bobby Charlton comb over.

So this weekend has been more than satisfactory for us, although it started badly with that Wrexham win over Swansea.

But we kept up with them and a play off spot in our own fans in a game that they would have been expecting us to drop points in and drop behind them, now they are very much looking over their shoulders as they travel to Watford on Tuesday and we play Norwich on Wednesday.

Likewise Hull City have been defeated at West Brom and they are now just 6 points points ahead of us and we have a game in hand that we play on Wednesday.

Millwall also lost at home, Blackburn winning 2-1 and we are now 11 points behind with a game in hand, they could have a wobble.

We have been playing catch up for a while now, we are starting to find our way of playing and our form, we have made those above us sit up and take notice today, obviously points on the table are important, a bid in hand is worth two in the bush as they say.

But we are coming in on the rails and that is making those above us very nervous.

All Photos Via Reuters