The 2015/16 season saw Southampton Football Club break another long-standing record, with no team beating Saints twice in the league for the first time since 1984.

In recent seasons Saints have come close to achieving that feat, but even in the successful League 1 and Championship campaigns of 2011 and 2012 they were foiled both home and away against the same club.

Looking further back, Saints never avoided defeat to the same team in one season since the Premier League was formed in 1992, which means you have to go back to the club’s successful spell in the mid-1980s for the last time this happened.

The 1983/84 season was, of course, the club’s best ever campaign as Lawrie McMenemy’s side finished runners-up in the old first division.

Back then Aston Villa, Luton and Norwich all recorded early wins over Saints in the first half of the campaign, but McMenemy’s team would not be as unfortunate in the reverse fixtures.

Confirmation of a whole season without two defeats to the same side came on the final day of the season when Notts County, who had beaten Saints 2-0 at The Dell in November, were seen off 3-1 at Meadow Lane thanks to two goals from Steve Moran and one from David Armstrong.

Popular culprits in the intervening years include Liverpool, who recorded ‘doubles’ over Saints in both the Premier League years and old division one days.

Manchester United too, have got the better of Southampton in the league, though they now haven’t done so for the past three seasons.

Even in Saints’ recent rise through the leagues, two teams did their best to stop Nigel Adkins’ men from achieving promotion out of the Championship, with Leicester City and Bristol City each winning their home and away matches against Southampton.

In the League 1 promotion campaign, the culprits were Rochdale who beat Saints by the same 2-0 scoreline at Spotland and St Mary’s.

So, it’s with extra satisfaction that Saints have ended a long-standing record, and one which also saw the club achieve a first in finishing above Liverpool in the league table. The team that coincidentally pipped them to the title back in that successful 1983/84 season.