BOLTON 1 - SAINTS 1

After the dismal second-half collapse against Aston Villa on Saturday the atmosphere around St Mary's has been doom and gloom.

Many were predicting the end of Premiership football for a while at Saints.

Even some of the players must secretly have felt that too.

But whatever they did in the days between that game and this one certainly had an impact.

The problem seems to be that Saints are playing in halves right now.

First half against Villa all went very well. Second half went very badly.

First half against Bolton didn't go well. Second half was superb.

If only Saints could combine two superb halves and get themselves three points.

A point at Bolton is an excellent result and could prove all important come the end of the season, although Saints need wins to back it up now.

Those three points are what makes the difference to the table and hopefully this draw has set them up for wins against Portsmouth, Norwich and Crystal Palace, which should see them comfortably home come the end of the season.

Saints started off at Bolton with a 3-5-2 style formation but it often reverted back to a regular 4-4-2.

Danny Higginbotham was in at left back and strong and dominant, showing the kind of character Saints need until the end of the season.

Kevin Phillips was also superb in attack, while the midfield struggled to hold their own in the first 45 but bossed the game in the second half.

But fair play to Bolton. They were the better side for the first 45 not because of this so-called long ball game they are supposed to play but because of good football.

In fact, their inter-play in the first half was some of the best seen against Saints this season.

Saints rode their luck at times in the first half but generally got away with it.

Nigel Quashie cleared off the line, Kevin Nolan headed just wide, Antti Niemi made a great save from El Hadji Diouf and saw the rebound hit Nolan and somehow bounce wide, but in among it all Bolton did score.

Diouf got away down Saints' left, stood up Graeme Le Saux and crossed from the byeline where Stelios came storming in to head home.

Half-time Saints were 1-0 down and hadn't even matched a shot at goal against a rampant Bolton side. Things looked bad.

But a half-time switch to a permanent 4-4-2 and the introduction of Matt Oakley worked wonders.

The long-serving midfielder has been out for so long it's hard to remember him at his brilliant best. Well, this was a timely reminder.

What a fantastic display he put in. He sat in front of the back four, used the ball well and never gave it away, and Bolton couldn't get to grips with him.

The turning point of the game might have come three minutes into the second period when Diouf put over the bar when just needing to tap in from five yards after Niemi had saved a Gary Speed header.

From then onwards Bolton were doing what Saints did against Villa on Saturday - defending deeper and deeper and hanging on.

You wondered if it would be their night when Jussi Jaaskelainen produced a superb double save from Peter Crouch's header and Oakley's follow up, and Oakley then did a Diouf and put over the bar when he should have scored.

But on 69 minutes came the coolest of finishes as Phillips beat the offside trap and finished clinically past Jaaskelainen.

Although Saints didn't create many more chances they looked the better team for much of the rest of the match.

Bolton of course poured forward and did create.

They had a few penalty appeals waved away, Kevin Davies hit the post, Jay Jay Okocha threatened from a free kick and Niemi pulled off a brilliant double stop from Davies and Stelios late on to deny Bolton.

But Saints had earned their point and weren't to be denied.

The first half had been Bolton's and the second half Saints'.

Those three points are still eluding them but performances of the heart and the quality of this one until the end of the season will surely see Saints stay up.