There was just one big issue left to settle at St Mary’s, so much so that the race for the golden boot dominated the audible chatter among the subs sat in front of the press seats.
And by the end they were urging Danny Ings on, encouraging teammates to pick him out regardless of how free he was and telling him to shoot whenever he got the ball, at one stage even when he received possession just inside the Sheffield United half.
But it was not to be as Southampton’s talisman Ings came up just one goal short in his quest to cap his brilliant personal season with what would have been the tangible reward of a share of the golden boot.