"WE have won one game, we haven't cracked it," declared Russell Martin, after his side recorded their first victory of the Premier League season.

The 1-0 win over relegation rivals Everton had long been coming and succeeded two failed attempts at home against Ipswich Town and Leicester City.

It took 10 matches to finally get over the line despite going at least a goal ahead in three of their last five Premier League outings. 

Adam Armstrong opened the scoring in the 85th minute yet, about 120 seconds later, Saints needed VAR to prevent a gut-wrenching Beto equaliser.

But the only thing that matters is that - as Armstrong put it, with "a bit of luck on our side" - Saints are off the bottom of the Premier League table.

As it happened, Armstrong's strike is the latest Saints winner in the Premier League since Charlie Austin in Ralph Hasenhuttl's first match - in December 2018.

Armstrong's persistence repaid Martin for a first league start since August, while 18 year old Tyler Dibling made a big impact from the bench. 

On the balance of play, despite Toffees boss Sean Dyche fuming in his post-match assessment, Saints will feel they probably deserved the three points.

Although it took 41 minutes for their first shot to come, the attacking intent had begun long before that. The final bit of quality was all that was lacking.

They missed opportunities to pack the box and get onto the end of crosses. Other times, Saints frustrated with a reluctance to let rip towards Jordan Pickford.

"Cameron Archer needs a bit more support than he's getting. We'll get there," said Martin. Archer, though, looks a great bit of business at £15million.

As does Mateus Fernandes, also costing £15million, whose pace to turn with the ball and put an ageing Everton backline on their heels was a difference-maker.

It was another summer signing who claimed all the plaudits. Aaron Ramsdale can lay claim to an integral role in his first clean sheet at the ninth attempt.

His left-armed stop on Michael Keane's powerful header - which still required the post to keep it out - was the pick of five saves Ramsdale made.

Ramsdale is the reason why Everton will feel they deserved at least a point. On another day, they may well have taken all three. He was colossal. 

Everton recorded 1.56 expected goals to Southampton's 0.74, had five shots on target to two and three were recorded by Opta as 'big chances'.

But Martin had already begun "courting" the Arsenal goalkeeper on the night of the Championship play-off final, May 26, for a reason.

Martin has reliably stuck to the line that he feels no pressure about his job from above in recent weeks but it had been growing in the stands at St Mary's.

While the 3-2 midweek win over Stoke City booked a Carabao Cup quarter-final, the Leicester-like manner of the two-goal collapse did not allay concerns.

This is only one forward step, but his players responded to those doubters in style. First of all, there can be no arguing whether the squad are still fighting.

Secondly, and despite some nervy moments, Saints exhibited some of their best play out the back since Martin arrived. It ultimately was why they won.

It was almost exactly 30 seconds from the moment Beto's header thundered off the bar that Armstrong began wheeling across the Northam in glee.

In that time; a calm penalty box one-two between Fernandes and Joe Aribo amid the chaos around them, another on the halfway line, a beautifully stroked Taylor Harwood-Bellis through ball and Yukinari Sugawara did the rest.

The moment that sparked the winning Saints counter-attackThe moment that sparked the winning Saints counter-attack (Image: Wyscout)

It was textbook Martin-ball. And it was not their only chance that came directly from some fairly hairy stuff under the pressure of a well-drilled opponent.

Martin has now found consistency in his team selection after admitting he made too many changes in search of a winning formula to start the campaign.

It has come from perhaps unlikely sources, with the inclusions of Ryan Manning and Jack Stephens still prompting groans in the comment section at 1:45pm.

You cannot fault their performances. Manning has offered a more cautious solution to a left-wing spot which nobody in the squad could hold down.

Since the trip to Arsenal, seven players have not left Martin's starting side. Skipper Stephens has returned from suspension to displace Sugawara.

Aribo and Dibling have come out but have also been among the first substitutes called in-game, while their replacements have delivered in their spot. 

The last of the 11, now-injured Ross Stewart started at the Emirates but Archer has consistently led the line since. At Wolves, they could go unchanged.

Martin does not see his style as "taking risks," but instead simply as "a way of playing". But it is a way of playing that requires understanding.

That understanding is slowly building and must keep building for the foreseeable. "We need to kick on, we need to improve," said Martin.