This was the last in a trio of Championship games that would by the end of them either be the end of our play off push or pivotal in the season, it turned out to be the latter as Saints took advantage of results elsewhere to end the weekend in a strong position.

Tonda Eckert takes every game as it comes and he must have known that this one would be tough after the emphatic victory at Wrexham, Derby arrived with their own play off aspirations on a thread, they knew only a win was good enough and they had a clear game plan, could Tonda rally his troops was the question.

He again shuffled his pack from the win in midweek, his style is based very much on having a squad that is interchangeable, I said back in January that our strength was the quality and depth in the squad and this game once again proved that right.

Derby's tactics were clear from the start, get everyone behind the ball and go quickly on the break and this they did, frustrating Saints and not giving any room for the likes of Tom Fellows & Leo Scienza the room to run at them.

They did this well and although we did have the odd chance or two, we looked a little off the pace, understandable after the euphoria of the last two wins over Arsenal & Wrexham.

The Derby tactics went exactly to plan in the 38th minute, a rare poor pass from Finn Azaz went out for a corner and Saints went to sleep, the subsequent corner skimmed off a head and looked to be going out of play at the far post, one man thought that it wasn't, that was the Rams Carlton Morris who appeared at the far post unmarked to poke the ball home as we watched,

We lost our concentration for just a second and paid the price and it was clear that this was a move that Derby had used before.

The crowd did not appear to be too bothered, they had seen this happen before and under Tonda Eckert, they are a side that doesn't get beat, but could this be different, Saints supporters were seemingly there to watch and not make much noise.

The first 15 minutes of the second half were more of the same, but then came the game changing moment, Finn Azaz got the ball and moved it quickly and simply to Leo Scienza who had a rare chance to run at his man with space, but he surprised Derby with not taking on his man, but curling the ball into the far corner for a superb equaliser.

Now you could feel the mood change in the side, there was a bounce and Eckert quickly made two changes , off went Ross Stewart and Tom Fellows and on came Cyle Larin & Matsuki.

The impact was almost instantaneous, a Ryan Manning free kick from the left, saw Taylor Harwood-Bellis head home to turn the game around, yes it had an element of luck in it, Derby were caught napping and should have cleared the ball, but just like us on their goal, they didn't so it evened things up although not in the scoreline.

It was great to see Ryan Manning once again showing that this season he has made some major contributions to our good run

The game had turned in just 7 minutes and with 15 minutes to go Tonda shuffled again, taking off Azaz & Scienza, with one eye on Tuesday evening's game against Blackburn and the other on defending this lead, Shea Charles being more defensive minded than Azaz and a straight swap on the left with Sam Edozie coming on for Leo.

We saw the game out and the manager will be satisfied with the days work, we might not have won with the style we did at Wrexham and put the Rams to the sword, but we showed we could roll up out sleeves and win ugly.

We had done our bit for the weekend and taken the 3 points, now it was time to look elsewhere, at Bramall Lane, an ex Saints hero was once again in that role, Danny Ings popping up in the 87th minute for the winner against Hull City, a result that lifted us above the Tigers by a point.

At Middlesbrough Pompey had notched a late winner and that again was a big result for Saints following on from Millwall only managing a draw at West Brom on Friday evening.

We were now in 5th and within 3 points of 4th & 4 from 3rd & with a game in hand on both Boro & Millwall.

That means that if we beat Blackburn on Tuesday we will jump to 4th and that is a big advantage in the play off semi finals and important.

Ipswich's win at Norwich means that getting automatic promotion would mean the Tractor Boys in total meltdown & I can't see that happening, they have a game in hand on us, we will run out of games before we will catch them, but 3rd & 4th is very much achievable.

On Sunday Wrexham lost at Birmingham which means they are 5 points behind us, if we make that 8 with a win over Blackburn on Tuesday, then we could potentially secure a play off spot at Swansea on Saturday.

This highlights the progress we have made in the last 3 months, now we have to make the last month count.

Once again a great squad win, no one individual was totally outstanding, it was not just about the starting XI, it was about the squad, not just those who came off the bench, but also those that didn't, all of whom could easily have slotted into the side if called upon.

Now to Tuesday evening's date with Blackburn Rovers, on paper this should be an easy one, they have won just twice in their last 9 games, but they also earned 3 draws, all of these 5 results in their last 5 games, they are almost over the line in Championship safety and will look to further improve their position against us.

So this is a big game and big games need big crowds, but what really needs to be big is the noise volume, it wasn't great on Saturday and we need to up our game as the 12th man in the run in.

All Photos Via Reuters