It can be hard to stay positive sometimes, but it is something Saints must attempt if they are to climb off the canvas again and battle their way to Premier League safety.

It’s not going to be easy.

They have taken some heavy blows during the course of the season, but none were more brutal than the one they received at Everton.

Saints headed into the game at Goodison Park knowing that a victory would leave them in pole position to stay up.

The benefit of having the late kick-off meant that results elsewhere had already poured in and given Saints an even greater incentive to win.

And they fully deserved to do exactly that.

As much as the players have rightly come in for criticism during the season, in this game, to a man, they were excellent.

They showed great spirit, commitment, and fortitude, both physical and mental.

They dominated Everton from the first kick of the game to virtually the very last.

Yet they came away with a draw. A heart-breaking, gut-wrenching, demoralising draw.

It lifted them out of the bottom three, but it also was a huge sense of relief for their rivals, and particularly Swansea.

Heading to Swansea will be tough.

Saints are on far better form, but you would much rather have a match of that magnitude in front of your own fans, particularly an evening game under lights.

And make no mistake, Saints gave the match against Everton everything. They looked totally spent physically by the end, and that was hardly surprising given the sheer level of effort they all put in.

To dust themselves off mentally and emotionally as well and physically will be a really tough ask.

One positive is that the equation at least looks simple, and that is that Saints need to beat Swansea.

Despite increasing talk, natural given the situation, that Manchester City on the last day is not a write-off, getting much out of that fixture will be hard in the extreme.

Even given their inferior goal difference Swansea would probably back themselves to finish above Saints at the end of the season if the game between the two sides ended in a draw given they play already relegated Stoke at home on the final day.

Huddersfield of course are still in play, while West Brom have a slither of hope but one that is not likely to deliver safety.

Staying positive heading to Swansea will be hard, but Saints have to try and find a way to do it as best they can.

What also stung for Saints at Everton was the sense of injustice.

Not only did Everton rob a point in a game where they failed to really create a single chance, but there was a sense of frustration at referee Jon Moss.

Though there were complaints about the amount of added time at the end of the game, you have to accept these things. Cedric Soares spent time down injured and there was running down of the clock.

But six minutes into stoppage time Moss awarded a very soft free kick in the corner in the Everton half for a supposed foul by Nathan Redmond. The linesman was a couple of yards away and hadn’t flagged.

Everton then took the free kick a fair distance away from where the foul was committed.

Inevitably in such situations it led to a goal.

Though Saints could have defended it better, and therefore the referee is not the beginning and the end of the situation, it did give Everton the chance to get the ball forward one last time.

Ryan Bertrand had the chance to let the ball go out for a throw but instead tried to clip it up the line, made a mess of it and handed it to Idrissa Gana Gueye, who squared to Tom Davies whose shot from 20 yards took a huge deflection off of Wesley Hoedt and left Saints shattered.

It was a moment that hadn’t appeared to be on the cards.

The nearest Everton had come was a free kick from Leighton Baines that Alex McCarthy quite superbly turned over the bar.

Otherwise Saints had been in total control.

Everton did look a little disinterested in a hostile home environment, and were shorn of the majority of their key attacking players with Theo Walcott, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Wayne Rooney all unavailable.

That said it was credit Saints who really imposed themselves on the match and were by far the superior team throughout.

If there was to be a frustration in their performance it is that they only had a one goal lead late on, which always leaves you vulnerable to such an incident.

Their goal came from sub Nathan Redmond whose downwards header at the back post through the legs of Jordan Pickford finished off a fine move as Dusan Tadic played Cedric in down the right and the Portuguese produced a fine sweeping cross.

Pickford had been a busy man.

He made a good first half saves from Charlie Austin’s volley and Oriol Romeu’s shot from distance.

In the second period Redmond was dangerous on the break and shot over before later forcing Pickford into another stop, while James Ward-Prowse also worked the Everton stopper.

There was also a red card late on for Maya Yoshida for a second yellow before the moment that left Saints crestfallen.

However, they must remember it’s not over yet.

It will be hard to recover but it is still possible.