Southampton held their nerve when travelling to Middlesbrough on Saturday lunchtime, with the atmosphere inside the Riverside Stadium a cauldron of noise, backing the home team.
Boro would head into this first leg tie in the Championship playoffs incensed by the Saints allegedly spying on their training, courtesy of an unnamed analyst, with Kim Hellberg's men fired up to win, consequently.
It would lead to the Teesside hosts firing shot after shot at the away side's goal, in a high-octane first 45 minutes, but the opening goal would never come.
While the defenders stood out from the away side's perspective, as Taylor Harwood-Bellis won a valiant three aerial duels to ensure a 0-0 draw would be clinched, the attackers did let the side down when analysing Tonda Eckert and Co's overall performance as a team.
The Southampton attackers who didn't show up against Boro
After the Championship playoffs kicked off with a 0-0 draw between Hull City and Millwall on Friday night, the neutral watching the Saints take on Boro would have been hoping for a game with more goals in it.
Unfortunately, that wasn't forthcoming, despite Southampton bagging 82 goals during the regular season, as Cyle Larin could only muster up one unmemorable effort at Sol Brynn's goal. His red-hot presence in the Championship, which had seen him score eight goals for Eckert's men since a January loan switch was confirmed, was nowhere to be found.
Likewise, Leo Scienza wasn't at his rampaging best, either, as only one of his four attempted dribbles were successfully pulled off. Once scoring a crucial goal for ex-employers Heidenheim in a playoff contest, as well, he didn't pack his shooting boots for the trip to Teesside, as neither of his two shots was on target.
Eckert will need his team to be on their A-Game in an attacking capacity for the second leg, as they will have home advantage on their side, after battling hard to keep Boro at bay.
This could result in him dropping this underperformer, who hasn't been named yet, as his poor individual season continued on against Hellberg's men.
Eckert must reconsider starting his star
Tom Fellows hasn't blown away audiences at St Mary's this season.
Costing £10m to obtain from West Bromwich Albion after collecting 14 assists last campaign, the expectation would have been that the gung-ho Englishman would excite his new set of fans from day one.
Instead, he has looked far more passive and reserved than his once daring Baggies self, with zero goals and only six assists next to his name, before the playoffs kicked off.
It would have been a surprise to see Fellows be handed a start at the Riverside, with his all too predictable performances up to this point on the South Coast, but Eckert put his faith in the number 18 to terrorise the Boro defence.
That wasn't what played out, with zero successful dribbles from only 19 touches of the ball making him a very easy winger for the opposition defenders to thwart.
For the second leg, Eckert must reconsider his starting spot, with Kuryu Matsuki back from injury, who has been known this season to be far more lively when thrown into nervy contests.
Indeed, from only 11 starts this campaign, the ex-FC Tokyo forward has four goals, and the energetic 23-year-old also likes to get stuck in, with one duel won from only 21 minutes of action at the Riverside.
Bringing in Matsuki could well prove to be a masterstroke call by Eckert, as he now scratches his head as to what starting XI to pick, to secure his team's progression through to the playoff final, with the Premier League the prize on the line.
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