The run up to this game was not about football, but at 8pm on Tuesday night the talking stopped and all eyes were on the pitch, many expected an easy night for Saints, but it turned out far from that.

At 6pm the fans swarmed in their thousands to the front of the Itchen stand to welcome the Southampton team coach, two years ago it was a glorious spectacle, but those who attended coming back into the fanzones, spoke of how it lacked a little something from the 2024 version.

That seemed to transport itself into the stadium at 8pm, the Saints fans seemed content to sit back and watch their team over run Middlesbrough, however it did not work out quite like that and as much as the team struggled to get going, so did the fans.

Whilst certain areas such as the Northam & the group in the Itchen next to the away fans made some noise, around me in the Kingsland and other areas, many sat firmly in their seats saying nothing, the theme song for the evening in the home stands could have been summed up by Nirvana "Here we are entertain us"

But there was a big shock after only 5 minutes when Riley McGree fired home into the bottom corner to give Boro the lead in both the match and the tie.

The game now fell into a familiar pattern, Boro defending and looking dangerous when they broke Saints struggling to break them down, they had a resolve and their fans roared them on.

It looked like they might hold their lead at the break, but in the first minute of injury time a Ryan Manning shot was saved by the keeper, but he could only palm it upwards and there was Ross Stewart at the far post to head home the equaliser.

Saints started to get their game together in the second half, but they found it hard to break down a resolute Boro rear guard and when they did they found the keeper in good form, so it was no surprise when it went to extra time.

The extra period seemed to be heading to penalties as it headed into the 116th minute, Shea Charles was out on the far right side of the field near the touchline and he put in a cross.

To be fair it was a clever cross, put the ball across the goal and hope that someone gets on the end of it, no Saints player got near it, a Boro defender did, but he seemed convinced it was drifting harmlessly for a goal kick and ducked his head and let it carry on it's way.

That seemed to convince the keeper who stayed rooted on the spot as they both watched it curl into the far corner to send Southampton fans wild.

Manic celebrations took place and it was a good 3 minutes before the game restarted, so it was no surprise that the referee announced 5 minutes on injury time, we just had to hold out now.

Hold out we did despite more time added to those 5 minutes to spark more wild celebrations as it sank in we were at Wembley for the second time in the season.

The truth though was it felt a little flat, I have been critical of sections of the crowd earlier in this article, I wasn't expecting the entire ground to be stood up and jumping up and down singing, but this was a big big game and too many just sat and watched it, they might as well have stayed at home and watched it on TV.

Too many said absolutely nothing in support of the team when they needed it, the celebrations to me felt a little muted, it wasn't like the Arsenal game a month or so again, when the entire ground roared the team on, the FA Cup semi final or even the West Brom game two years ago.

As Nirvana sang "Here we are entertain us" and when you have done that we will cheer.

The truth was the team looked tired and so did the crowd, April saw a lot of games and a lot of energy used, both crowd and team were running on empty.

Thankfully despite the fact that we looked nowhere near the free flowing exciting side of a month ago, we dug in and got the rewards at the end.

I can't think of a man of the match, no one was outstanding, it wasn't about great play, it was about sheer battling, gritting our teeth, rolling up our sleeves and grafting and that we did.

It was about the unsung heroes of the side , this wasn't about Leo Scienza, it was about James Bree, Ryan Manning & Nathan Wood, digging in and doing their job.

So now it is off to Wembley and we certainly need the 11 day break before we get there.

However there is still the war of words going on between the two clubs and that sadly will take up most of the headlines in the next week or so.

All Photos Via Reuters