Who would have predicted that Saints would celebrate the 50th anniversary of their first visit to Wembley and FA Cup Final win over Manchester United, with a return to Wembley albeit for an FA Cup semi final.

It is fair to say that the only people in St Mary's and perhaps the whole country who were confident of a Southampton win in this game were Tonda Eckert and his players.

In the build up to this game, Saints were very much the underdogs and the manager remained his cool self, the most that he said was that he had spotted a weakness or two in the Arsenal side.

The big question was about his team selection, would he prioritise the Wrexham game on Tuesday as Mikel Arteta would clearly be doing the same for the Gunners Champions League game against Sporting Club of Lisbon.

The answer was no, Eckert put out just about the strongest side that he could and to boost Saints fans hopes, Leo Scienza was back in the side.

You could feel in the air there was a different sort of atmosphere in St Mary's, the fans were up for it, there were some on social media who felt that the seats that were not taken up by season ticket holders who opted to watch the game on TV would be taken up by Arsenal fans, the answer was that the seats were filled by fans that seemed to want to stand up and get behind the team.

It was never going to be easy, you didn't need to be a genius to know that Arsenal were going to have the bulk of possession, were going to have the most attempts on goal etc, our job was clear, get behind the ball and make sure that those attempts weren't too damaging and then go on the break.

In many respects this was a repeat of the last round when we beat Premier League Fulham, it was about dig in and when we got the ball make sure that we got forward quickly

The game started in that fashion and stayed that way to the end, but in between it saw Saints counter attack with venom.

Most Saints were happy just to still be on level terms as the game crept towards half time, but on 35 minutes the unthinkable happened, a James Bree cross looked more hopeful than anything else, but Arsenal defender Ben White misjudged the flight of the ball and Ross Steward chested it down and calmly took a few strides and slammed it past the keeper, to lift the roof off St Mary's.

Now the fans were starting to join Tonda Eckert in his belief that we could win this one.

The second half was more of the same and you could see Saints legs tiring and the Gunners took advantage and finished off a well worked move with an equaliser on 68 minutes.

You might have thought that this would crush the team and silence the fans, but it was the opposite, it seemed to increase the intensity, a couple of quick substitutions brought on fresh legs and a third 5 minutes later brought on strength in Shea Charles.

This would prove crucial and as Arsenal poured forward the team upped their resolve and the fans upped the volume, the Arsenal onslaught that surely that equaliser would bring and end our valiant efforts was not allowed to happen.

Then on 85 minutes came the moment, Tom Fellows slid a short pass to Shea Charles and the sub finished with aplomb to once again lift the roof off.

The big question now was whether Arsenal had anything left, certainly their fans didn't seem to think so, some were actually leaving, truly puzzling as their was clearly going to be at least 10 minutes left including injury time.

Arsenal tried, but the Southampton team would not let them get another equaliser, the fans would not let them concede a goal, people were on their feet now and roaring the team on.

The final whistle saw one of the biggest celebrations ever seen at St Mary's, no one left the fans stayed and cheered the team, they sang and they hugged complete strangers stood next to them, they knew they had seen a pivotal moment and that the dark days of the first couple of months were over.

The Red & White Wall of the Northam End was a sight to see at the end as it celebrated en masse and the rest of the ground was just as raucous, it was good to see Taylor Harwood-Bellis call his team to got to the Kingsland and the rest of the ground to celebrate with everyone not just the Northam.

Many needed a drink after that and the Northam fanzone was packed, the chant of Yellows Yellows YELLOWS ! was taken up by those queueing to get over the footbridge on the concourse outside, it was a truly special evening.

Was there a Saints player who didn't merit a 10 out of 10 rating, I cannot think of one and I think that if you can you are being a little uncharitable.

Talking of uncharitable, apparently Mikel Arteta accused us of practising the dark arts of football, pot calling kettle black I think, yes Arsenal had a weakened side out, but that was Arteta's choice, we can only beat what is put in front of us, I would put a few quid that many of his missing players at St Mary's will miraculously recover for their game with Sporting in midweek in the Champions League.

Arteta could have taken this game seriously and put out a stronger side, but he didn't and that is his problem not ours, the fact that we didn't make it easy for him, seems to have riled him up, how dare little Southampton beat us.

Now we have a Wembley appearance to look forward to and the draw is this evening is after the conclusion of the remaining quarter final tie between West Ham & Leeds, that kicks off at 4.30 so the draw could be anywhere between 6.30 & 7.30.

But we have to keep our focus now, because we have a bigger game to worry about when we go to Wrexham on Tuesday night, we have to make sure that we don't suffer a hangover from this game, Wrexham will have watched this game and will be worried.

Let's hope that Leo Scienza has not suffered any reaction to his groin injury and that everyone is fit and raring to go.

All Photos Via Reuters