SIX days after they were cruelly denied the club's first trophy for 41 years, Saints bounced back from their Wembley heartbreak by emulating another 1976 achievement.

You have to go back to the League One promotion season of 2010/11 for the last time Saints scored four goals in back-to-back league games.

But not since October 1976 have Saints scored four goals or more in successive league games on the road.

James Ward-Prowse believes the return to Saints’ trusty formation and the arrival of £14.6m Manolo Gabbiadini are two key factors in the side’s most prolific away form for four decades.

Saints have scored ten goals in the three games they have played since returning to a 4-2-3-1 at Sunderland two weeks ago.

They made it back-to-back Premier League away wins for the first time this season by following their 4-0 win at the Stadium of Light with Saturday’s 4-3 win against Watford at Vicarage Road.

In between was the small matter of the 3-2 EFL Cup final defeat against Manchester United, a defeat Ward-Prowse admits was the lowest moment of his career.

But Saints bounced back from that in style, in an entertaining game far removed from Watford's visit to St Mary's on the opening day of the season or indeed the goalless draw in the corresponding game of last season.

All of a sudden they are the Premier League's Great Entertainers.

“Every system is different but this has worked in the last few games and everyone’s enjoyed it,” said Ward-Prowse.

“It’s something that has been done to help the team improve and we’ve shown it to be the correct decision with the amount of goals we’ve scored.”

It could have been many more than four with Ward-Prowse among those denied by Heurelho Gomes.

“It was the perfect way to bounce back,” admitted the England U21 star.

“Everyone was disappointed with the result last week and we used that as a springboard to put things right.

“It was a strange feeling after the game. If we’d lost 2-0 at Wembley we’d have been more disappointed. We certainly deserved the win so took the positives.”

You have to go back to the 1976-77 season for the last time Saints scored so many goals in back-to-back away games.

Mick Channon scored four as Lawrie McMenemy’s FA Cup winners bagged 15 goals in three successive games away from The Dell in October 1976; against Wolves (6-2), Carrick Rangers (5-2) and Luton Town (4-1).

Peter Osgood and Bobby Stokes were also on the scoresheet at Carrick, a European Cup Winners' Cup tie in Northern Ireland, in between two big wins in the old division two.

After scoring six goals in his first four games, a club record, no-one would rule out record-signing Gabbiadini joining those legends in Saints’ goalscoring pantheon.

“The system has helped as well but the introduction of Manolo has helped massively,” said Ward-Prowse.

“He’s created healthy competition and every squad needs that. That’s a good thing for everyone.”