Alan Pardew felt that Saints deserved their last minute winner after refusing to give up at Yeovil.

The gaffer cared not one jot that his side had to wait until the closing stages to score the deciding goal, as the togetherness of the team earned the victory, despite the sending off of Morgan Schneiderlin midway through the second half.

"I thought we deserved it if I'm honest," he said. "The first 35 minutes we were probably better than we were at Bristol Rovers, but we couldn't get a break of the ball. I've stood on the sidelines as manager of this team and said about games where we didn't get a break, and I don't think we got one today either but we still plugged away.

"We were getting a bit frustrated in the second half that we weren't getting enough attacking play in the middle of the half.

"Morgan in all honesty showed a bit of indiscipline and that nearly cost us, but we just wouldn't give in and in the end our spirit saw us home. We ended up with Papa at right back, Rickie centre mid and Barnard and Connolly up front, it was one of those games where we had to throw caution to the wind and we got a deserved goal. We had to defend on the break, brilliantly at times, it was a tense day but a good day. Our fans were brilliant and I am so glad that we got the winner in the end right in front of them."

Pardew was initially surprised with Schneiderlin's dismissal, but feels that the midfielder will have learnt a valuable lesson as it looks likely rule him out of the run-in.

"At first I didn't think it was too bad, but speaking to one or two of our staff members who were upstairs said that he deserved to go, so we can have no complaints at that.

"He will miss that excitement now, so it's him who is going to suffer. He's had one or two moments this year with indiscipline and he has got to lose that streak that he has got in him."

The manager was delighted with the contribution of his substitutions though, as the half time introduction went on to hit the decisive goal.

"He (Barnard) and Connolly looked really sharp. How could I change things after Bristol Rovers? The team were magnificent, so he has had to wait his time. I just felt that we needed a goalscorer on the pitch in the second half. He had to work hard for the team in the end but he has come up with the goal.

"It's one of those days that you will remember, you won't forget this one," he concluded.

"We have to keep the pressure on and we can't do more than win our games. We could only ever get 78 points, if it is 79 points to get in the playoffs it will be the most points total of any year I should think, so we have to keep winning and see what happens.

"I hope for our fans' sake that they turn up on Tuesday night, it's a big game for us and I hope they haven't given up hope because I think we showed the whole game, especially in the last minute with the goal that it still really cares for us and we will fight until the end.

"I think if Millwall would have won 3-0 last night then it was perhaps meant to be, so we are still up against it but we keep answering the questions, even today, ten men and we wouldn't give in. The players' spirit was commendable today, they deserve all the plaudits for the way they dominated the first half and the way the spirit came through in the second half."