If the key to a promotion winning team is to get positive results even when you’re not playing well, then the rest of League One had better watch out when Saints hit top form.

Nigel Adkins has led his side on a terrific run, but it has been one not borne out of shining performances and total demolition jobs.

Often Saints have nicked results by the skin of their teeth.

They’ve bagged a few that they probably didn’t quite deserve.

That is a massive positive because it’s no different to what a Chelsea or Manchester United do in the top flight if they are to win a division.

Not even these great teams, not even the imperious Barcelona, turn up and play sparkling football every week.

But those teams make sure they do enough to win games.

The only worry with Saints at the moment is that we have worked out that, even not at their best, they are capable of grabbing three points against the division’s lesser lights.

We are not so sure when they step up a class – as was proved against Huddersfield a few weeks ago.

However, we can also qualify that by saying that we definitely haven’t seen the best of an Adkins-led Saints side yet.

That, inevitably, only comes with time and hard work.

And when it does click, with the backing of these results, the future could be quite positive.

For now there is still a feeling of fragility to the team, the sense that things can go wrong.

There is not really that total belief of the second half of last season that every game would end in victory, no matter what.

But football is a results business and, quite simply, Saints are getting the results. End of.

The main difficulty for Adkins is trying to change the style of play slightly whilst the season is going on.

It’s always hard to learn on the pitch because it is the harshest of environments in which to make a mistake.

And once a few of those happen players understandably are less willing to be brave about taking what on the face of it is the sensible decision of, say, a pass in preference of a safety first option such as a long ball.

At Saints the problem had really come in that the players are obviously really trying hard to do what their manager says, but not quite always adapting out on the pitch.

When they have gone direct, they have often gone too far that way; when they have tried to pass out from the back, they have gone for it no matter what.

Now they are getting the idea that they need to mix up their play, find the right areas to pass the ball in, the right times to go direct or hit a diagonal.

But it’s not yet instinctive. Adkins is right that it makes for exciting football at least, but it’s also skin of the teeth stuff at times.

It’s getting there, though, and you have to give the players credit for giving it a go and for showing the determination to get the results that are getting the season back on track.

It was never going to be the easiest of games against a Notts County side that were missing most of their best players but were going out to impress new manager Paul Ince.

They took the lead after just nine minutes as Ben Davies’ expertly delivered corner found the head of Mike Edwards who powered home from eight yards.

There were complaints of a foul with Karl Hawley having got tangled up with Kelvin Davis on the goal line, but nothing was given and it was all to do again for Adkins’ men.

Saints struggled to regain their composure in the first half. County were so up for it and just a little more competitive.

Edwards put another free header from a corner wide while the nearest Saints came was a 30-yard Rickie Lambert free kick that Rob Burch turned onto the post.

Saints played better in the second period and came close when Adam Lallana’s brilliant control and cross, after Jason Puncheon’s cross field pass, nearly picked out Dean Hammond to turn home from close range.

But Saints still needed a bit of inspiration to turn the game around with Davis having to make a couple of decent saves and John Thompson putting a free header wide when he should have done better.

They found it in the space of five minutes.

Lallana’s through ball on 68 minutes set Lee Barnard one-on-one with Burch but, as he went to shoot on about the penalty spot, he was brought down by Thompson’s challenge.

A penalty was awarded and Thompson sent off.

Lambert made no mistake in burying the spot kick into the keeper’s bottom right hand corner.

Before County had properly reorganised, Saints took the lead, Lambert having the presence of mind to square across the six yard box to provide Barnard with the easiest of finishes right in front of goal.

From that point on, playing against ten men, Saints were in cruise control.

Deep into stoppage time Lallana bagged a well deserved goal, cutting in from the right to curl a shot into the far corner.

It wasn’t a 3-1 game, but it was a 3-1 result.

And that is all that really matters.