SAINTS are starting to look as formidable on the pitch as they are on paper.

Alan Pardew has assembled a squad of extremely high quality for League One.

Week after week Saints are facing respectable League One sides who they are quite simply a lot better than.

Take the last couple of games – away trips to Southend and Oldham.

Both of those sides are in and around midtable, and will probably finish in those sort of positions come the final reckoning.

Well, a quick look at the teamsheets before the game underlines the gulf in quality between the sides.

Saints have many players who could easily be playing at a higher level, and most of them have.

But just because you have better players and should win, it doesn’t mean you will.

We all know football doesn’t work like that, it just isn’t that easy, and that’s what makes it a wonderful game.

These other sides will hold their hands up and admit they can’t compete with Saints for quality.

For about the tenth time this season we heard fans of Saints’ opponents say they have no chance of competing with a side who can afford to spend £1m on one player.

It doesn’t seem that extravagant to Saints fans but many League One teams would be happy to buy over half a squad for that kind of cash.

So these sides will do the one thing that is within their power.

They can’t make themselves better players but they can up their game to try and beat Saints’ players for effort and work rate and hope it proves to be enough.

It has taken Saints a while to get used to it but they are now countering it in the best way possible – what we’ll call the Manchester United and Chelsea way.

If Saints were playing United or Chelsea their players would feel the same as many of those at Oldham and Stockport have when facing Saints – outclassed.

But they would up their effort and see where it got them.

The reason why United and Chelsea are so good, though, and win so many titles between them, is not only their massive quality.

It is also the fact that their players, better in every technical aspect than most of their opponents, will also graft like you wouldn’t believe.

It is simply not enough just to believe your technical ability will win the day.

They know that if you can stand up to the battle and cancel out the one thing the other side have going for them, then the extra quality more times than not will bring you a win.

Saints seem to have got themselves that mindset now.

The key for them is consistency, to not take their foot off the gas.

Getting rid of the minus ten was good news, and they are now off the bottom, but the charge needs to continue.

They deserve credit for the last few games, but it’s not enough – they need more.

Suddenly Saints have started to look like a side that have what it takes to achieve more than mere survival this season.

There is a long way to go, but you can sense it there.

Consistency will be the key, though.

They will need to continue to go away to places like Southend and Oldham and make sure their superiority counts.

Saints were emphatic again at Boundary Park.

They have got to grips with the 4- 5-1 formation nicely now and look very hard to handle.

Rickie Lambert is getting the service, and the support, he needs and looks just terrific.

Elsewhere Saints are a mixture of solid and dynamic.

And with the ability to change to 4-4-2 and chuck into the mix David Connolly, as Saints may well want to do at home against better teams like Paul Ince’s MK Dons next week, it all looks good.

Saints took the lead after just 11 minutes at Oldham.

Lloyd James delivered a deep corner from the left to the far post which Dean Hammond charged in to head home from close range – how nice to see Saints score rather than a concede a goal like that.

It was 2-0 on 23 minutes when Lambert curled a 25-yard free kick round the wall.

It was low and on target but a comfortable save for Dean Brill dropping down to his left.

However, he somehow let the ball squirm out of his grasp and under his body and it trickled over the line.

Saints might have put the game to bed before half time.

Lambert hit the bar with a remarkable lob from inside the centre circle while Adam Lallana headed wide from six yards out when Lambert had set him up.

In between Oldham had given Saints a reminder, Keigan Parker forcing Kelvin Davis into a good save after getting in one-on-one.

There was another great opportunity for Saints five minutes after half time.

A slack backpass saw Brill have to tackle Lallana and the ball fell to Morgan Schneiderlin, He controlled and took aim but put his effort wide.

Saints could have paid a heavier price as Oldham got one back on 66 minutes, a sloppy pass setting Alex Marrow away and his shot hitting the inside of the post before being turned home a yard out by Pawel Abbott.

But Saints remained strong, their new-found resilience on display.

Lambert hit a much better free kick than the one which brought him a goal six minutes later but it crashed against the bar.

However, after Connolly had come on and Saints had gone 4-4-2, another defensive error from Oldham let in the debutant.

He showed true class to drop his shoulder to the right and smash the ball into the top left hand corner.

Saints have a big test against MK Dons coming up next, but if they pass that then they really can start to look up and dream.