IF ANYBODY deserved a goal and a moment to be a hero, it was Chris Baird.

And that moment duly came after 14 minutes at St Mary's at the weekend when he rose in the centre of the area and headed Gareth Bale's cross goalwards.

Luton keeper Dean Kiely, on his debut on loan from Pompey got hands to it at a nice height and probably should have kept it out.

But it didn't matter.

St Mary's was delighted as Baird opened the scoring.

Nobody on the outside of the club has ever doubted his ability - not since he was thrown in at the deep in the FA Cup final and performed so well.

But, on the inside, it's been a little different.

Manager after manager has overlooked him. Everyone, when questioned, said if he does well in the reserves he'll be in the first team.

Baird duly went off and did well in the reserves and then, when there is a gap to fill, Gordon Strachan, Paul Sturrock, Steve Wigley and Harry Redknapp went and signed another player.

That pattern was a recurring theme and Saints can thank themselves lucky that Baird is settled in this area.

He has had opportunities to leave to get first team football but has stayed loyal and always believed one day he would get his chance.

The man to hand him that chance, that empowerment, was George Burley. And he is reaping the rewards handsomely.

Baird is the first name on the teamsheet now. He is a real leader and his obvious commitment and willingness to put his body on the line and head in where it hurts has made him a star with the fans who love to see players spill blood for the cause.

The thing about Baird is that he is also a more than useful player. He looks every step a Premiership footballer. Though maybe a couple of inches short of a top level centre-half, you'd have no worries with him at right back.

He's proved he can compete with the best playing international football for Northern Ireland as well.

Baird's conversion to centre-half has been remarkable. You keep expecting it to end and him to be at right back again soon.

But the way he's playing, he cannot be moved.

The most remarkable thing about him is the balls he wins in the air.

He has an incredible spring and beats players three or four inches taller to headers on a regular basis.

His positional sense and reading of the game also help him out - just look how many times he'll head the ball out near post from deep crosses.

His goal on Saturday was the start of what seemed likely to be a romp.

Burley switched his formation and team to the one that finished so strongly against Leeds, Jhon Viafara and Rudi Skacel playing as widemen in a 4-5-1 that was a 4-3-3 when attacking.

On the whole, the formation worked well again. Skacel certainly looks far more comfortable in that more advanced role than a left midfield in a tight 4-4-2.

Grzegorz Rasiak plays that lone striker role well, too, and should have got more than one goal as he peppered shots on target all afternoon, but most straight at Kiely.

He did get himself an 11th of the season after 37 minutes.

Skacel chased down a long kick from Kelvin Davis and Leon Barnett handled in the area.

Referee Paul Armstrong didn't see it but the linesman flagged and Rasiak buried the ball low into Kiely's bottom right-hand corner with a textbook spot-kick.

Despite Saints' first half dominance, Luton had almost taken the lead when Warren Feeney got a knee to a bouncing ball and saw it squirm off the post and away.

But with Saints in control at half time, having put on their best half of league football at St Mary's this season, it seemed a matter not of whether they would win, but by how many.

But they took their foot off the gas, dropped a little too deep, gave the man on the ball less options and ended up seeing their lead halved on 68 minutes.

A high free-kick from not far inside the Saints half was headed straight up in the air.

Davis made the decision to come to try and punch clear with Russell Perrett free at the back post but the Luton defender was there first and headed into an unguarded net.

Saints did enough to hold on and, while the win wasn't as comfortable as it perhaps should have been, it was a win nevertheless.

The bandwagon is rolling again and if it picks up more momentum over the next week-and-a-half, let's hope it goes out of control.