Saints have all but guaranteed themselves Premier League survival with a gutsy 1-0 win at Swansea which manager Mark Hughes described as one of the most significant of his career.

Hughes was handed the job of trying to keep Saints in the Premier League with just eight games remaining, and has all but done it with a match to spare after a run of eight points from the last four games.

The crucial victory came last night as second half sub Manolo Gabbiadini delivered a second half goal that saved Saints and likely condemned Swansea to Championship football.

Only a defeat to Manchester City and a victory for Swansea at home to Stoke on the final day with a ten goal swing could deny Saints now.

Hughes said: “It’s one of the most significant (wins) because it had so many things riding on it.

“It’s a fantastic club and they have got so many things right behind the scenes – the support staff, the facilities, everything is in place to be the successful Premier League club they have been in recent seasons.

“This year it hasn’t quite happened for them and they got into a spiral of not being able to get points as a result.

“It was a hard task because we came in with difficult fixtures.

“The majority of them were away from home and we came in and tried to have an impact and get them out of this predicament.

“If we get the job done on Sunday that’s what we will have been able to do.”

He added: “Obviously there was no leeway tonight and we had to win the game to give ourselves any prospect of staying in the Premier League and we have been able to do it.

“I have been delighted by the response since the weekend because people thought the disappointment of not getting three points against Everton and the circumstances the way they got the equaliser maybe people thought it might affect my group detrimentally.

“I knew very quickly after that they were refocused and we were ready.

“First half we were maybe taken a little bit back by how direct Swansea went as they tried to get a fast start and some benefit from that and we were disrupted initially.

“Second half we dealt with it a lot better than the first half and even in the first half I think we had more clear-cut chances than they had.

“Second half we had more chances, stood up to the challenge and weren’t to be denied.

“When you make substitutions you want them to make an impact and all three of them did exactly what I wanted of them.

Shane Long’s come on and affected the ball at the far post, its ricocheting around and Charlie as he is the ball always seems to find him in the box.

“He always gets shots off and was unlucky not to find the goal himself and then Gabbi, who has been disappointed in recent weeks because I haven’t used him a great deal, has always trained correctly, and was focussed on what he had to do and has come on and grabbed the headlines.

“We are delighted for the guys because they have worked exceptionally hard.”