Ipswich Town 2 Southampton 5

That just about sums up Saints’ start to the Championship season.

Three games in and three wins on the board.

Top of the league, scoring goals for fun – it’s the stuff of dreams.

Leeds? They were surprisingly disappointing.

Barnsley? They were awful until they were playing ten men.

Ipswich? They would surely provide a challenge.

Perhaps it’s just Saints, perhaps, very early days though it is, they are just ripping this division up at the moment.

In their attacking triumvirate of Lambert, Lallana and Connolly they can dismantle teams.

If Ipswich was the big test then read this – Ipswich 2 Saints 5.

Conclusion drawn.

Ipswich actually came flying out of the traps – well, for the first couple of minutes before Saints put them in their place.

That began with Dean Hammond’s cross field ball to Rickie Lambert which the striker played inside to Adam Lallana who dropped the shoulder to beat one man and then hit his shot just wide.

It didn’t take long for Saints to take the lead though – four minutes.

It was another cross field ball into Lambert, a very deliberate tactic from Saints and why not when you have such a superb talisman who deals with them so well.

This was fired into his chest, he controlled with his back to goal and got the ball down to his feet.

Lambert quickly spotted Lallana square, passed and spun into the area to complete the one-two, going on to dispatch a first time right footed finish low and past keeper David Stockdale.

After Carlos Edwards had forced Kelvin Davis into some action, albeit a pretty comfortable save, Saints made it 2- 0 on 11 minutes.

David Connolly showed his quick thinking by improvising a brilliant stabbed pass into the path of Lallana when a lesser player might have waited to get the ball where they wanted it and let the moment slip by.

Lallana, unsurprisingly, was similarly sharp and quickly laid the ball off to Lambert with a pass that split the wafer thin Ipswich defence wide open.

This time Lambert opened his body and put his finish across Stockdale with the same end result.

Guly do Prado whistled a shot across goal and narrowly wide before an important moment on 19 minutes.

Grant Leadbitter lofted a pass into the path of Lee Bowyer who was through on the Saints goal.

Suddenly it seemed the deficit could be halved and game right back on again.

But Bowyer’s decent finish was superbly saved by Davis, showing excellent judgement to stand tall and then block one handed to his right.

Davis might have been beaten moments later after Keith Andrews’ header back across evaded everybody until it found Aaron Cresswell in time and space at the far post but the Ipswich man fired across goal and wide when he should have scored.

Saints were in no mood to be charitable though and made it 3-0 three minutes before half-time.

Lallana was again involved, this time laying the ball in to the on-rushing Do Prado.

His firm first touch saw him break through the defence and force the keeper out wide.

The Brazilian kept the ball in play and cut it back to Connolly who produced a clinical drilled finish.

Ipswich made two half-time changes to try to turn the game in their favour and duly got back in it on 56 minutes.

Michael Chopra’s drive from the edge of the area smashed against the crossbar and came back out.

Saints got it half clear but Andrews beat Jack Cork to the loose ball and tried his luck from 20 yards, making another clean connection but this time beating Davis at his near side despite the Saints keeper just getting fingertips to it.

Lallana thought he had restored Saints’ three- goal cushion just three minutes later with a mesmerising break into the area and a brilliant finish that had Stockdale beaten.

But Cresswell was charging back to the line and made a superb sliding stop to keep the ball out.

Ipswich got another goal back on 61 minutes as Saints failed to get a Bowyer cross out of their six-yard box despite several opportunities.

The final one saw Dean Hammond launch the ball high but not forward, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas won the aerial challenge and, as the ball fell into a melee on the deck, the Ipswich striker somehow had the chance to get it under control and lash home.

Nigel Adkins made what at the time seemed a slightly curious substitution, bringing on Morgan Schneiderlin for Do Prado down the right of midfield.

Ipswich tried to switch their attack to that flank but, despite an Emmanuel- Thomas effort Davis blocked at his near post, some of the impetus had gone out of their play.

Schneiderlin showed what he can do in an attacking sense on 76 minutes as he produced an outrageous chip that Lallana controlled on his chest breaking into the area.

Lallana actually looked to have mishit his finish, firing it straight into the ground, but it bounced up and that made it awkward for Stockdale who was not able to keep it out and Saints could breathe again at 4-2.

Saints rounded off a superb evening with a fifth goal in stoppage time.

Lambert this time turned provider with a pass that set Lallana on his way.

He remained strong to hold off Ipswich attentions and slotted low past Stockdale to ensure Saints’ players left the Portman Road pitch with chants of ‘we are top of the league’ ringing in their ears from the travelling fans.

It said it all really.