FEELING GOOD: Gzregorz Rasiak shows some emotion after putting Saints in front at St Mary's. Pictures: Stuart Martin
IS there life without Kenwyne Jones? You better believe it!
After the trials and tribulations leading into this match, things were going to go one of two ways for Saints.
Either they would go out and be rolled over by Stoke, it would be doom and gloom and the wheels would be in real danger of coming off completely.
Or Saints would rally, find an extra edge in the face of adversity and pull a good performance and a win out of the bag.
Thankfully it was the latter - and resoundingly so.
It seems likely Jones will leave Saints this week having handed in a transfer request on Friday while also informing George Burley he wasn't going to play against Stoke.
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Though some fans will never forgive a player for wanting to leave, the handing in of a transfer request is part of football. If Jones wants to move, so be it.
The thing that got most people was his timing and refusal to play.
Jones probably would have started had it not been for that and Saints would have worked on their shape for the game and things such as set-pieces with him involved.
To then dip out, presumably to protect yourself from injury and a threat to your big move, shows a lack of respect for your teammates.
The St Mary's crowd made their feelings on the matter perfectly clear and there is surely no way back for him at Saints now.
He needs to leave soon so Burley can spend the cash - which he must be given - to strengthen the squad.
If Saints receive £5m-£6m for him that would be a very handsome price indeed, regardless of the transfer request.
And on the evidence of Saturday, a few more players into the equation as a result of that money and Saints could be going places.
In the same way as we couldn't get carried away with a few defeats, the same must apply with a first win.
Yet it was the manner of the victory which was so impressive.
Saints moved the ball around nicely. The spine of the team was solid and the wide areas threatening.
In particular, the first half combination down the left of Rudi Skacel and Andrew Surman was the kind of thing Burley must dream about.
Down the right, Nathan Dyer had one of his best games for Saints, as did Bradley Wright-Phillips up front. Those two players must take confidence from their displays and push on.
Thoroughly deserved win for Saints who played some great football. There were many good performances against a decent Stoke side. If Jones goes Burley must be given the money to spend and if he is then this season could still be very successful.
Adam Leitch
And hats off to two of Saints' much maligned players as well. Jermaine Wright and Kelvin Davis deserve special mention.
They both come in for some frightful stick but Wright was steady at right back and did ever so well adapting to the left, even being prepared to take on a man and try a cross with his left which was refreshing to see.
Davis pulled off several top drawer saves and it must have been a very special moment for him to hear supporters singing his name.
In typical Saints fashion, they couldn't do things the easy way.
They conceded to a long ball after ten minutes, Mamady Sidibe winning the flick-on and former Saint Ricardo Fuller, who got a torrent of abuse from the crowd, chesting and firing into the bottom corner.
While Stoke were down to ten men through injury, Saints took advantage with Surman deciding to shoot from 25 yards and rifling an effort into Steve Simonsen's bottom left-hand corner on 36 minutes.
Stoke thought they had retaken the lead a few minutes later when Ryan Shawcroft's header was cleared off the line by Skacel. Replays suggested it crossed the line but the officials didn't agree.
Davis made two excellent second-half saves to keep the scores level - which proved vitally important when Saints sealed the points with two goals in five minutes.
The first, on 70 minutes, saw Surman beat his man, get to the by-line and wrap his foot around a cross that found the head of Grzegorz Rasiak who duly found the bottom corner - his first home goal since last November.
On 75 minutes it was 3-1 when a cross was only half cleared to Jhon Viafara, who lashed home a half-volley from 12 yards - his first ever goal at St Mary's.
There was still time for another irritating goal to be conceded by Saints, Jon Parkin allowed to head home from a corner.
And Fuller almost spoiled the party when he outrageously decided to try and lob Davis from a drop ball when everybody was expecting him to return it to the Saints stopper following a stoppage. Thankfully the ball dropped on to the roof of the net.
But it was a deserved win for Saints, who can look ahead to brighter things.
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