ARGUABLY the best thing about Saints’ start to the season is the manner in which the team have played.

Of course football is a results business and entertaining matches would be of little comfort if they were producing losses, but they haven’t been and all Saints fans should revel in that.

Of the six league matches so far, probably only Millwall has been a damp squib.

All of the other five have been good to watch, had goals, talking points, excitement and decent quality football on show.

Nigel Adkins has his side passing the ball – and most of the time that seems a great tactic. Saints have some very good footballers and if you are going to compete at the top end of the Championship, you are going to need to play slick, incisive, passing football with great movement to open teams up.

Adkins’ men have managed to find that in abundance. At times it does seem a bit too high risk – their determination to pass out from the back seemingly no matter what, even from goal kicks with the tactic of pulling the centre halves out wide and then dropping in a short pass down the middle to a central player dropping deep, has ‘recipe for disaster’ written all over it.

But whatever way it goes you can’t say it’s not exciting. You never quite know what is going to happen and that is part of the fun.

The Championship is infinitely more entertaining than League One was. Even when the time comes that Saints lose a couple of matches that will still be the case.

Last season Saints had a feeling of what is like to be Rangers or Celtic for a season – you’ve got loads more cash and resources than everybody else, massively better players and so you go out and smash up smaller clubs every weekend.

It has its place but any fan revelling in wins over the likes of Yeovil and Hartlepool too much should pull their necks in a bit. That is not the case in the Championship.

There are a great many clubs who are as big as Saints, have the good stadiums, can splash the cash on decent players.

There are a host of names who have been Premier League fixtures for a time, high profile managers, other sides intent on playing their way to victory rather than coming down to St Mary’s, shutting up shop and hoping for a set-piece or a counter attack goal.

The difference in the quality of the football on display is hard to quantify because it is so incredibly vast.

And so, if you’re Saints at the moment and you are regularly winning whilst that is going on, then, wow, it really is happy days.

With the Championship you just never know quite what the result is going to be when you turn up at the ground and that was the case against Nottingham Forest.

Saints are on a high, Forest on a low coming into the game. But a quick look at the teamsheet and the quality the visitors boasted in their ranks told you this would be no walk in the park.

So it proved because Forest probably should have got something from the game. Saints shaded the first half, even though the sides went in level at the break.

Forest were well in control for much of the second but ended up on the wrong end of a 3-2 result.

It was certainly not a day for the defensive purists as both sides conceded some fairly soft goals, giving away possession cheaply and then making errors as they tried to prevent themselves conceding.

Saints fell behind after just seven minutes at St Mary’s, the first meaningful error of the day capitalised on by Ishmael Miller being set away down the left and his low drive across the face of goal turned home by Matt Derbyshire from close range.

But Saints were only behind for a minute as Guly Do Prado cut in from the right and threaded a pass into David Connolly.

His shot was saved at his feet by Lee Camp but Rickie Lambert reacted first to stab the loose ball into the net.

Saints kept the pressure on Forest with some decent football and got their reward when they went in front on 25 minutes.

Connolly had pulled out to the right and was found by a terrific flick from Do Prado. The striker’s cross was flicked on by Adam Lallana to the far post where Lambert was waiting to power home a header.

For all Saints’ possession though it was 2-2 at the break with Forest levelling three minutes before half time.

Miller played the ball down the inside left channel to Derbyshire who broke into the box.

Faced with Kelvin Davis and Danny Fox he had the choice to shoot from a tight angle or roll the ball back to Radoslaw Majewski.

He opted for the latter and it was the right decision as the midfielder duly swept home first time from 12 yards out.

The second half was a very different affair. Saints seemed to tire and Forest stepped up a gear, doing well until the final third.

It was actually Lee Camp in the Forest goal who had the more meaningful save to make, from Lallana, while Jose Fonte’s header from a corner was cleared by Andy Reid on the post.

A vital couple of minutes decided the destiny of the three points, though, as Davis took a heavy touch when controlling the ball and was pounced on by Derbyshire.

As the keeper went to ground so did the Forest attacker who claimed a penalty.

The linesman, who was right on the spot, and referee Iain Williamson disagreed and booked Derbyshire for diving.

Saints didn’t waste too much time in getting what proved to be the winner seven minutes from time.

Danny Fox delivered an in-swinging left-footed free kick, Lambert showed his terrific strength to hold off challenges and thump a header goalwards that Camp could only turn onto the underside of the bar and in.

A Lambert hat-trick, another five goals for the St Mary’s faithful and a great game. There’s just so much to enjoy at Saints right now.