The Welshman’s side, Charlton Athletic, turned up to St Mary’s hoping for a point and got it. Despite going behind to a Ross Stewart header, midfielder Casey made it 1-1 before the Addicks sat back and defended well.
Jones got his fair share of abuse from the home crowd and gave his own back post-match - in his trademark way.
Cheer up, Nathan
Southampton’s draw with Charlton was the first point Nathan Jones has earned at St Mary’s - despite being the Saints manager for four home games.
Talking to the BBC post-match, Jones said, "If I tell you how I really feel when I walk through the door at this place, then I might get myself in trouble. But yeah, nice to come back. Nice to see....the grass."
A comment coming from somebody clearly bitter about his time at the club - Jones was always going to celebrate a point.
When asked if he was pleased with the tactical learnings from November, when Charlton lost to the Saints 5-1, he responded, "We've always been good tactically; we demonstrated that here. I can't remember the last time you beat Man City, I can't remember the last time they got to a Carabao Cup semi-final."
No thanks to Jones, Southampton don’t often get the opportunity to play Manchester City anymore - let alone beat them!
Tonda Eckert: an upgrade
Tonda Eckert appeared to be the much calmer head in the dugout throughout the game, despite being 19 years younger than one of his many recent predecessors, Jones.
Before the game, Eckert sensibly answered on Jones’ return, "It's going to be a special game for him, I don't know how much it changes for his players and us. We need to attack the game, and I think we have good chances with a good performance to bring it in our direction."
Southampton certainly did put in a good performance - but it wasn’t enough to beat a team set up by Nathan Jones to come out with a point. Charlton’s 5-4-1 out-of-possession structure made it hard for the Saints to get into promising positions throughout the match.
Charlton fans will certainly come out of the game as the happier of the two, but Saints fans know one thing for sure - they have a much better and classier manager in their dugout.