NOW you're going to believe us, the Saints are going up.' That was the song being belted out by jubilant fans at Hull on Saturday.

The thing is, we might just be starting to believe it's true.

We need Saints to make sure they keep their finger well away from the self-destruct button they are flirting with on occasions. But that aside, it's all coming together nicely.

If Saints are to get an automatic promotion place, this run-up to the new year is going to be vital.

We said that after last Wednesday's victory against Birmingham and they started in fine fettle with a win and another four goals at the KC Stadium.

But the next five fixtures see Saints travel to Southend, play Norwich at home, Sheffield Wednesday away and Crystal Palace and Leicester at St Mary's.

This might be a tough and even league, but ALL those games are winnable.

And, more to the point, Saints will need to win most of them if they are to go up automatically.

It's that level of consistency which is the difference between the play-offs and automatic promotion.

Right now, it's hard to see why Saints can't do that.

There are still areas for improvement, but for the most part the players are there to provide it.

A few weeks ago we were saying the performances needed to remain the same, but the goals had to come.

Now the goals are flowing and the performances, in many cases, are actually better.

George Burley's great achievement so far at Saints has been fixing areas of weakness.

That's an on-going process, it's an overview in the transfer market but it also changes within the squad game to game and even within matches.

Again, there are still a few question marks but the table says all you need to know.

It helps that the team is brimming with confidence - four back-to-back wins and 13 goals tends to help that.

Saints just need to make sure they remain professional and get into a groove of being clinical and ruthless week after week to get results.

They showed some of that ruthlessness at second-from-bottom Hull - but punctured it with two minutes of chaos.

Saints took the lead on 19 minutes, Kenwyne Jones playing a fantastic curling ball from the right wing that went diagonally across the face to Grzegorz Rasiak who had to just tap home.

On 25 minutes it was 2-0. Gareth Bale, superb again at left-back, curled a 25 yard central free-kick round the wall and into Bo Myhill's top left hand corner.

It was unstoppable - and the fourth time he has netted direct from a free-kick this season.

Saints had done the hard work now, they'd got themselves a cushion.

They were playing by far the better football as well.

They weren't in top gear - a few passes going astray, some hold up play not the best - but were knocking it around fairly nicely.

Hull, in contrast, were hitting high balls up the field trying to feed off flicks and scraps.

It was route one, pretty basic and it would have been disappointing if it had seen off Saints.

But looked like it potentially could when Saints conceded two goals just before half-time.

The first saw a corner half cleared, a mishit shot came in from the edge of the area and fell to Nick Barmby to turn and score.

Saints just needed to keep it tight until half-time but shot themselves in the foot in stoppage time.

Jones' backpass to Davis was under-cooked and Craig Fagan beat the Saints keeper to the ball and slid it under him.

Saints knew they had the beating of Hull but had to show they had that ruthless and efficient streak in the second half to do it.

They did.

On 75 minutes Bale seized the initiative and stormed forward. He found Rudi Skacel, who played the ball across goal to provide Rasiak with another tap in.

The goals were Rasiak's only notable contributions but as ever he showed his natural knack of getting in the right place at the right time. Thirteen goals at this stage is some going.

Bradley Wright-Phillips sealed the points with eight minutes remaining, coming off the bench to score for the second time in four days.

Jermaine Wright played him in, Wright-Phillips took a heavy first touch but recovered to finish across the advancing Myhill and into the corner.

If Saints can keep this run going until the New Year, there is nothing they can't achieve this season.