WHAT'S THAT old saying about waiting for buses and loads coming along at once?

It was the way of things at St Mary's on Saturday, thanks to a Saints side fresh from promising displays against Reading, Preston and Newcastle.

How refreshing to see Saints face a side they should beat comfortably and actually do it - by three clear goals!

There were so many positives to take out it's hard to know where to start.

Obviously the result is one. George Burley set his team a target of 48 points to ensure survival. They are now on 40.

That puts them 11 points clear of the relegation zone and, I believe, virtually safe already.

Having said it before, I'll say it again - Crewe, Brighton or Millwall making up a four-win differential on Saints just isn't going to happen.

Then there are still plenty of teams between Saints and the relegation zone, including Sheffield Wednesday, that would also need to buck the form of an entire season and go on a winning spree in their final matches.

Incredibly it was the first time for almost two years - April 2004 against Wolves in the Premiership being the last time - that Saints had won a league match by three clear goals.

Another positive there - and also one up front where both strikers scored.

Up until this game the Saints frontmen had managed just five league goals between them at St Mary's all season - a pitiful total.

But, in their first start as a pair, Kenwyne Jones and Grzegorz Rasiak both scored, Jones with his first since August ... against Sheffield Wednesday.

They looked lively together, Rasiak bringing the best out of Jones, who put in his most impressive performance for some time.

When you have those two on the pitch and look to the bench and see Peter Madsen and Dexter Blackstock, you feel there are forward options to be happy with.

Rasiak also looks like he has goals in him. Now he's got one there might be plenty more.

Again, the defence was a positive, always solid, albeit against a forward line that was awful until the introduction of Deon Burton in the second half.

In midfield Matt Oakley looked far more comfortable on the right than he has in the past and added some real balance to the unit.

One of the biggest positives was the left flank.

Jim Brennan, at left-back, is improving with every game and looking a real steal, having been signed on a free.

He is linking up well with Andrew Surman, who looked excellent on Saturday.

The youngster gets about the pitch, he's a very busy player, but he also has quality on the ball where it matters - in the final third.

He delivered a few beautiful balls into the area against Wednesday and looks a real class act with natural left-footedness a real bonus.

Against Wednesday, albeit an injury-ravaged Owls XI, Saints were by far and away the better team. They played the better football, always appeared more dangerous and had strikers who looked likely to score.

Ironically, then, it was a defender who opened the scoring.

Surman was chopped down right on the edge of the area, making one of his impressive runs across goal.

Danny Higginbotham, stepping up to take the free-kick, reckoned that from 18 yards out getting the ball up and down over the defensive wall was not an option, so he powered the ball low and into the bottom corner.

It was a thunderbolt shot from his left boot that left the keeper with no chance. It also ended a dire Saints Championship goal drought that had spanned more than six hours.

Saints doubled their lead three minutes into the second half.

There was a scramble in the box after Claus Lundekvam's high free- kick and the ball broke to Rasiak, who showed quick reactions to throw a leg at the ball and stab it home from 12 yards.

There was just seven minutes to wait until Saints got a third and wrapped up only George Burley's second league win in 12 attempts.

More good work from Surman on the left saw him deliver a low ball which Jones stooped to head back across into the far corner.

Wednesday pushed on in the final stages, trying to put pressure on the Saints backline, but it was too little, too late.

Hopefully this will be a sign of things to come for Burley's team. Saints have played a game where they should take all three points and they do it without a fuss or a scare, just in a professional manner.