JUST when it seemed all hope was lost, along came the goal that keeps the dream alive - for another week at least.

As the fourth official started to make his way into the technical area on Saturday, Saints were staring down the barrel of relegation.

They were losing 2-1 to Crystal Palace and, though not mathematically relegated, they were going to be needing a miracle to survive.

The fourth official held up his board - four minutes of injury time and Saints knew what they had to do - score!

As the time ticked on and Saints' future started to look bleak, Danny Higginbotham stormed in at the far post and, as time seemed to stand still, put the ball into the back of the net.

I'm not quite sure if anybody believed what had just happened.

It wasn't that Saints didn't deserve a point, but the press contingent to a man was writing their obituaries.

In a way, everybody had convinced themselves that at least it was a strange kind of relief that it was all over.

The post-mortem could now begin and, after the dust had settled, everybody would start to plan for next season again.

Then Higginbotham strikes and it's all back in the melting pot.

The likelihood is that Saints will have to beat Manchester United to survive.

Make no mistake, while this is salvation, it might only be temporary.

As much of a relief as a last-minute leveller was, a draw wasn't a great result.

Norwich winning against Birmingham has at least made life crystal clear for the Canaries - they win and they stay up.

The simple fact is that Saints drawing at Palace means they don't have their fate in their own hands, which is not a comfortable position to be in on the final day of the season.

All Saints can do is go out and beat United and hope for the best.

If they fail to win then they'll probably have blown it anyway.

And as if that game wasn't hard enough, they'll have to do without the focal point of their team, Peter Crouch, who will be suspended.

Just a reminder, the last game he missed was against Portsmouth and we all know what happened there.

Whether Harry Redknapp will play Henri Camara and Kevin Phillips or come up with a new plan remains to be seen.

It'll have to be good, whatever it is.

Still, you can't help but feel that heroes come from unlikely places at this time of year - who would have imagined Higginbotham would be the man to keep Saints alive for another week?

This match certainly started off as nervy as everybody thought it would be as both sides failed to really commit in attack.

Saints had the better of the possession against Palace's deep defence and midfield but weren't really opening them up.

Things looked bad on 34 minutes when they fell behind.

Predictably it was Fitz Hall, sold to Palace last summer, who got the goal. His sale will certainly feature high in the post mortem come the end of the campaign, but we'll leave that for now.

A deep free-kick was cleared to the edge of the Saints area and Hall hooked the ball towards goal and around Antti Niemi into the corner.

Before there was time to draw breath, Saints were level as Crouch showed huge bottle to score from the spot after Tony Popovic handballed Camara's flick.

While Saints bossed the first half, Palace had the better of the second until the game was thrown up in the air on 59 minutes.

A late challenge from Crouch sparked a mass brawl that saw both sides down to ten men with Crouch and Gonzalo Sorondo sent off.

Both managers switched to 4-3-2 and the game really opened up.

Palace grabbed the lead again on 72 minutes when lapse defending allowed Nicola Ventola in from a routine high ball and the injury-plagued Italian made no mistake with his finish.

As the game wore on it seemed Palace would take the points.

But late on, and with Phillips on the pitch, Saints looked dangerous.

Camara twice came close before the moment that sent the Saints fans wild when Higginbotham slotted in at the far post.

After this game, this month, this season you just wonder what will happen next week.

There are sure to be more twists and turns. It may not feel like it, but that is the beauty of football.