GOALSCORER Anders Svensson confessed that Saturday's game was the sort Saints must start winning.
The Swede, who didn't score at all for Saints last season, was on target twice to become the club's top-scorer this season with four goals.
But any personal satisfaction was tempered by such a disappointing 2-2 draw at home to fellow strugglers West Brom.
"These are games that we must win," said the enigmatic midfielder after Saints' tenth league match in a row without success.
"It was a frustrating match. We started off brightly, got in front and then a bit of sloppy defending let them back in it and we gave away two easy goals.
"I do not know what to say really, we have done it before this season and it is so frustrating.
"After that we were chasing the game to try and get back in it and it is much more difficult when you have to do that.
"It has been like that all season, we play some decent football but then give away a cheap goal.
"We haven't given away many, but the ones that do go in just seem to be a bit sloppy and maybe we have lacked a little bit of concentration.
"You cannot afford to do that at this level because you get punished straight away.
"They had two opportunities in the first half and they got two goals."
Like most of St Mary's, Svensson felt confident when his diving header from a Paul Telfer cross had put Saints ahead after 28 minutes.
"It felt so good when we got in front but just ten minutes later we are down 2-1 and I could not believe it," he said.
"We did get one point out of it but we were by far the better team and really we should have taken all three.
"We have been working hard all season and this week has been an excellent week in training.
"That showed and we started the game really brightly, passed the ball around and created some chances.
"There were just ten minutes when we switched off and let ourselves down and we cannot let that happen again."
Svensson's own form has been one of the main positives in a disappointing season.
He began on the left of midfield and moved into the centre when Neil McCann was introduced after 59 minutes.
The deflected 87th-minute equaliser helped Svensson to a first double for Saints since the 4-0 victory over Leicester in December 2001.
He said: "I would rather have played poorly and taken the three points, when we do that it will all turn around for us.
"We have got a lot of confidence in ourselves and we know that we are a strong team, but we just need to find that winning mentality at the moment.
"Now we have to recharge our batteries and look forward to an important game against Watford and then a huge game next Saturday, which we definitely need to win.
"The fans have been excellent all year and they will be frustrated.
"We have players coming back from injury and I hope the derby can kick-start our season."
Saints are currently enduring their worst league run without a win for almost a decade.
The last time they went 10 Premiership matches without a win was back in 1994/95 when, under Alan Ball, Saints went 12 games without a win.
But during that spell, which spanned December through to March, Ball's men drew NINE matches and only lost three.
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