A dramatic ending to a game that for a long period saw Saints looking a bit tired and struggling against a Swansea side who were full of running and seemed keen to win a game that had no real significance to this season.

Tonda Eckert shuffled his side a little again to rest player and give others a chance, in the first half this looked a mistake, we were disjointed, our usual fluid game was missing and we struggled to cope with Swansea's hard running game.

The Swans worked hard, as if their lives depended on it and we lacked power and pace, when we did get the ball to move forward, the likes of Leo Scienza found no space and if they beat one man, there was always another behind covering.

Swansea were dominating and it was not a surprise when they took the lead on 20 minutes, the worry though was that this was a goal very similar to the way Derby opened the scoring a week earlier at St Mary's.

A ball was crossed in the box and went over heads and beyond the far post, it looked to be going out for a goal kick or put out for a corner, it was neither and the ball was put back in and we were all at sea as it was stabbed home from close range.

This was an almost identical situation as a week earlier, we went to sleep at the back post.

The home side dominated and looked likely to get a second if we were not careful, the only hope was that in the final minutes of the half we had our first and second shots on target of the game, so surely we could not be worse in the second half.

Tonda Eckert had a lot to think about going into the dressing room and it was no surprise he made a change at the break, bringing on Shea Charles for Flynn Downes who was lucky to have stayed on the pitch after a confrontation with some of his former clubs players.

This soon paid dividends and on 57 minutes Leo Scienza crossed and Shea Charles deftly steered a header inside the left hand post to the delight of the travelling support behind the goal.

Surely this would now break Swansea's spirit, but the answer was no and although Saints were now in charge of the game and were having chances, the Swans held firm and indeed had chances of their own.

Tonda brought on Cyle Larin with 22 minutes to go and he offered pace and power but Swansea were still in no mood to roll over.

The third substitution came on 88 minutes and it was Cameron Archer and within a minute the game would be won, Caspar Jander's cross was met on the volley by Archer and a defender could only help it on it's way into the net to spark pandemonium in the stand behind the goal.

There was now just the 6 minutes of injury time to deal with and we had a win under our belts that looked unlikely right up to the minute that it went in.

Cameron Archer's career had not really taken off at St Mary's but he is fast becoming a key player in the run in to the end of the season, with a goal and an assist he was man of the match against Derby and with goals against Watford and Birmingham that gave us a point in each game, his contribution had still been vital, this added another 2 points.

Cameron Archer could yet well be the hero of the hour come the final whistle of the final game of the season.

But that is how promotions are won, I remember back in 1978 when we won promotion back to the top flight, with 3 games left we went to Luton Town in a very close promotion run in where 4 clubs were vying for the 3 places,, no play offs back then.

Saints struggled against Luton and looked to be heading to a 1-1 draw before winning a last minute penalty despatched by David Peach to give us the upper hand.

Yesterday reminded me of that day, results didn't really go for us elsewhere, but we kept our heads above water and although a play off spot is not yet mathematically confirmed, in could be when we meet Bristol City on Tuesday at St Mary's.

But an automatic spot is still on the cards, although by Sunday evening it could be all but over if Ipswich defeat Middlesbrough.

So our task at the moment is still to ensure we finish in 4th or 5th place for the advantage of playing at home in the second leg of the play off semi finals.

It is hard to pick a man of the match for this game, that is the case for most of our games, but this was our poorest performance in a long while and no one really shone.

But we kept going as a team and once again we showed that with Saints a game or a point is never won until the final whistle and that is a psychological advantage in the run in, the teams we play will know we are never beaten till it's over.

The big positive from this game is that we kept winning, at Wrexham we won well, last week against Derby we won ugly and in this one we won lucky !

Any side needs a bit of luck and this was one game we needed it and we got it.

As I looked around the ground at the end, I thought back to that win at Kenilworth Road in 1978, then there was no tickets, the crowd was 14, 302, the bulk of them Saints supporters as a local Luton team were in the non league cup final being played at Wembley.

Around 9,000 had made the journy up to Luton and were packed in behind the goal and also around the ground.

At Swansea we got just 2,400 tickets and the ground was around 4,000 short of capacity, as it has been all season, there were a block of empty seats next to us, why could they not be given to us.

In these days when football clubs struggle for money, it seems strange that they would rather see empty seats in a stadium than fill them with paying customers, even if they were the opposition fans.

Now we need to go again on Tuesday against Bristol City and get our vocal chords warmed up for Wembley

All Photos Via Reuters