Southampton 4 Gillingham 1

We’ve been saying for weeks that they have a much better squad of players than the majority of teams they are facing.

We’ve been saying for weeks that they should be able to turn teams over – not necessarily by high scorelines but at least with a relative degree of ease.

But, aside from Yeovil, a win which came via two penalties, it has been what we’ve been saying rather than what we’ve been seeing.

That all changed against Gillingham and what an important moment in the season it could prove to be.

You never know whether you have hit a turning point until you can look back and reflect but to at last nail a performance of such superiority and finally banish that ten-point deduction to the scrap heap feels decisive.

Let’s get this straight, Saints were so much better than Gillingham it was ludicrous.

Quite simply Saints have much bigger resources and as such have assembled a group of players who are just a lot better.

Gillingham came to St Mary’s with just one point on the road this season and without Simeon Jackson, their deadly striker who is their talisman and best player.

So it was there on a plate for Saints.They could not have asked for a better opportunity to win a game and win it well.

But how many times down the years have we seen them squander such opportunities?

All too many to recall.

Not this time.

They made their utter superiority in every department pay and they rubbed Gillingham’s noses in it.

Best not get too carried away because Saints do have a habit of screeching into reverse just as you think they’ve squeezed on some forward thrust.

But this was a game they should have won that they did win and they did it with a great deal to spare.

You can’t ask for much more than that.

All you want now is for consistency because this should be the case most weeks.

The challenge for Pardew and his men is to deliver just that and get up the table.

In a raft of good performances, Rickie Lambert stood out.

Pardew’s decision to match up Gillingham’s 4-5-1 formation proved astute.

Now this formation, which becomes 4-3-3 in attack, strikes fear into the hearts of Saints followers who saw it fail last season.

But it was played pretty well on this occasion, Adam Lallana and Papa Waigo being the wide men who, along with Jacob Mellis and Dean Hammond, actually did get up to support Lambert.

There was very little of the aimless balls pumped long to Lambert in the hope he’d win them and then somehow get on the end of the second ball as well.

Instead he had people around him who also caused the back four problems and created him space.

Suddenly, with this service and support, he looked a beast of a player.

This is what we all thought Saints had bought – he was strong, led the line, won a lot in the air, held it up, linked the play, got in the box and scored a great goal.

Gone was the man who looked a little lost, proving it was the isolation he was left in that caused the problems.

Credit must also go to Lallana for two terrific goals as well as Paul Wotton, who showed exactly how to play the holding midfield role.

All that experience was put to good use and in the second half, when Saints shut out the game, he was vital. It wasn’t fancy but it was very effective.

Saints started quickly but tailed off only to ratchet it up again and then have the luxury to ease off.

Jacob Mellis blazed a volley over after 15 seconds, while Simon Royce turned Lallana’s shot wide in a fast start.

But after 13 minutes Saints got their noses in front, Dean Hammond whipping in a cross from that right that was nailed clean as you like on the volley by Lambert and drilled into the bottom corner for 1-0.

But having offered little threat Gillingham equalised on 27 minutes, Luke Rooney lofting a curling chip from the top right-hand corner of the area over Kelvin Davis and into the far corner.

Papa Waigo should have restored Saints’ advantage just a minute later as he tried to dink the ball over the advancing keeper but in hurdling Royce himself he put it wide.

Mellis then saw his low effort from 25 yards smack the post before Waigo skied the rebound.

But on 35 minutes Waigo made no mistake. Lloyd James’s throw was flicked into his path by Lambert and the striker simply lifted the ball past Royce and it was 2-1.

Saints got the goal that killed the game a minute before half-time when Mellis’s ball from the right found Lallana. He took one touch to beat the defender and a second to steer it into the bottom corner.

Saints came out for the second half to protect what they had.

They got men behind the ball and allowed Gillingham possession – but in areas that wouldn’t hurt them. After what they’d seen in the first half they must have been pretty confident that as long as they remained disciplined only an out of this world strike or a set piece could undo them.

As it was Gillingham never looked like producing any of those things, or indeed anything else, to even remotely trouble Saints.

After Lambert’s curling free kick had been turned over by Royce, Lallana put the icing on the cake on 74 minutes.

He jinked inside from the left and curled a right-footed shot from the edge of the area around the diving Royce and into the far corner for 4-1 to seal a performance and result Saints have been promising for some time.