Christopher Lee/Getty ImagesJason Puncheon celebrates his goal that helped earn Southampton a stunning comeback draw at Stamford Bridge.

Unexpected points are always nice. Unexpected points when you are 2-0 down at halftime to the European Champions are especially nice.

- Match report: Chelsea 2-2 Southampton
- Chelsea blows two goal lead

I write this with the kind of post-match glow that you only get from an unexpected result. This might well have been the king of unexpected results. Having lost 5-1 to Chelsea at home just eleven days ago, the confidence among Saints fans was pretty low going into the visit to Stamford Bridge. Result expectation -- 10%.

What we at least hoped was that the team would contain our best players and the likes of Rickie Lambert and Gaston Ramirez would not be rested as per the cup game. We would at least give ourselves a chance to avoid a humiliation. Then the team was named.

Artur Boruc, Nathaniel Clyne, Maya Yoshida, Jos Hooiveld, Luke Shaw, Jack Cork, Morgan Schneiderlin, Steven Davis, Guilherme Do Prado, Jason Puncheon, Jay Rodriguez. Not again. Result expectation -- 2%

Why make it difficult for ourselves, Lambert is our most likely scorer, surely at least he should be on from the start?

25 minutes in, and after an admittedly bright start for Saints, Demba Ba hits his first Premier League goal for Chelsea after some questionable defending. Result expectation -- 1%.

Chelsea then started to impose their dominance, much like the game at St. Mary's, and it looked like we might be looking at another heavy defeat, Saints fans were casting uneasy minds back to Villa's 8-0 defeat.

45 minutes, Eden Hazard makes it 2-0, no more than Chelsea deserved, right at the death of the half the Belgian effectively ends the tie as a contest. Result expectation -- 0%.

With the game seemingly over, the chatter among the travelling support was mixed, should Saints chuck Lambert and Ramirez on and go for it? May as well lose by five as it's the same as two. Or should Saints worry about goal difference and park the proverbial bus (the one Chelsea used in Barcelona, a perfect model)?

Nigel Adkins, the man who is actually entrusted to make such decisions, sent his team out unchanged. Again Saints started brightly, but do Prado and particularly Steven Davis looked like passengers, the latter wasting possession at an alarming regularity.

It still didn't look like Saints had any way back into the game though, and Adkins made his first move tactically. Lambert was to enter the arena. This was good news; actually it was great news, but oddly it was the energetic Rodriguez who was removed and not do Prado or Davis. Result expectation -- 0%.

Lambert is a very good footballer, but primarily he is known for scoring goals. He knows what to do if you give him the right service. Three minutes he was on the pitch. Three minutes. Clyne sent the ball across, Lambert rose. 2-1. Result expectation -- 15%.

Could Saints get back into this? Could Saints make Chelsea and Rafa Benitez feel that haunting home pressure. Yes. Yes they could.

Lambert's mere presence and goal seemed to visibly lift the away side, and they started to push forward. Davis was still wasting the ball though, and that would have been what prompted Adkins to remove him for Richard Chaplow in the 67th minute. Chaplow immediately did what he does best, hassling the Chelsea players with a relentless tenacity.

Adkins showed that he was seeing what the fans were seeing when he rescued do Prado from his own disappointing show on 74, releasing Ramirez in a maverick South American like for like change.

Then it happened. Shaw, who looks better with every game, burst down the left and played the ball across the 18 yard box, Ramirez flicked it and Puncheon picked it up, took a little touch into the air, and smashed it on the half volley. Goal! What a strike. 2-2. Result expectation -- 50% (yes, very pessimistic I know).

For the remaining 15 minutes, this was end-to-end, as both sides pushed for the win, with the exception of the last few minutes and the four added on, in which Saints had to defend resolutely against a predictable Chelsea onslaught. But they held on. What a great point and what an unexpected result.

I still think Lambert should have started the game, but Adkins has done a pretty impressive job so far, and now people are really starting to trust his judgment. For a game in hand that was almost considered a write-off, Saints can now go into a home tie with Everton with a renewed sense of belief.

Defensively there were still issues without Fonte, but with highly rated Vegard Forren looking on from the stands (he will complete his move to Saints in the morning, reportedly) it looks like it could be the icing on the cake of a very good week to be a Saints fan.

Keep the faith.

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