Saints made plenty of fine acquisitions in the summer, but it is hard to believe any were more important than their first three.

Further evidence was provided for that last night as Ronald Koeman, Dusan Tadic and Graziano Pelle helped power the club into the quarter-finals of the Capital One Cup at Stoke last night.

Pelle, who followed his manager to St Mary's from Feyenoord, will take the bulk of the headlines after continuing his superb scoring form with a brace, including the 89th minute effort that sealed the dramatic win.

The striker's first goal was the pick of the bunch, though - a stunning, curling effort from 25 yards that clipped the inside of the post on the way in and kick-started a mad, full-blooded night at the Britannia Stadium.

It culminated with Pelle slamming home his ninth goal of the season from close range after Erik Pieters failed to clear a Steven Davis free-kick.

There was plenty to admire from Saints in between too, notably from Tadic, who must surely be one of the finest signings made by any Premier League club during the off-season.

The playmaker cost £11m from FC Twente and already looks like he's worth double.

In fact, scratch that, he appears priceless for Saints.

Again, he was mesmerising here, and at the heart of so much of Saints’ attacking work.

“Whose pass was that?” is a commonly-heard phrase in the press box.

When it comes to Saints this season, “Tadic” has invariably been the answer.

He played a significant role in Shane Long’s goal – the second of the night for the visitors – playing in Steven Davis on the overlap, allowing the midfielder to cut the ball back for the grateful forward to sweep home.

Shortly afterwards, he produced an audacious pass that nearly led to a third, nonchalantly chipping a ball from the left wing right onto the chest of Pelle, who controlled brilliantly and nearly put a half-volley into the top corner.

Tadic then played his part in a stunning one-touch move in midfield that also featured Pelle and Morgan Schnedierlin, His one-two with Victor Wanyama nearly gave the Kenyan a goal early in the second half, while Long could also have converted one of his perfectly-weighted angled passes after the break.

It was a memorable night for the Irish striker, though, as he finally got off the mark in his 11th appearance following his £12m move from Hull.

He owed some credit to Koeman, who deployed a rarely-used 4-4-2 at times to help him get into better scoring positions.

It was another in a long line of fine decisions from the Saints boss this season, who again reaped the dividends of playing a strong team in the competition.

With him at the helm, and Tadic and Pelle included in the fine side he has moulded, Saints appear on course for some great things right now.