GUT-WRENCHING, nerve-shredding, shirt-drenching, lip-smacking, goal-busting - you hyphenate it and this match had it.
This was edge-of-your-seat, fingernail-chewing, block-busting, cut-throat football in the raw.
Okay, it may have lacked true Premiership pedigree but never mind the quality, feel the whiff - of fear.
For Harry 'Houdini' Redknapp these three points felt like 23. Pronounced DOA after returning from Portsmouth quivering wrecks a week ago, his Southampton side were resurrected at St Mary's yesterday.
Saints ain't safe yet. Not by a Peter Crouch-sized chalk. But Henri Camara's 87th-minute winner that ended an epic contest means they live to fight another day.
This wasn't a football match. It was two boxers punching each other to a near standstill.
And it was Saints who dragged themselves off the canvas that final time to deliver the knock-out blow.
There was a poignant moment at the final whistle when Redknapp embraced Norwich boss Nigel Worthington - a touching portrait of two men who know the toll a relegation dogfight can take on those unfortunate enough to be stuck in the middle.
But those two managers - at least one of whom will be waving goodbye to the Premiership in a fortnight - differed markedly in their view of a match that will live long in the memory.
Redknapp went through agonies in the dug-out, bouncing up and down, backwards and forwards, before his team, rock-bottom at kick-off, clawed their way out of the bottom three.
The sheer relief etched across his face told its own story afterwards, as did his classic reply when he heard that beaten City boss Worthington had claimed he actually enjoyed this crazy encounter.
Redknapp, looking amazed, replied: "No, no, he must be a psychopath."
The former West Ham chief went on: "It wasn't a lot of fun out there but this result was massive. How would we have been tonight if we'd gone away from here beaten? We'd have been relegated, finished.
"But we are still in there scrapping and, all credit to my players, they kept going after being on the floor when we conceded a goal right on half-time.
"At times we've played some great football but it's been a struggle from day one. We've just thrown leads away, that's been our problem."
Asked if the introduction of Camara was a tactical master-stroke, Redknapp replied: "No, it was luck, a last throw of the dice."
It was almost certainly Norwich's last throw of the dice.
They'd given themselves a chance of survival with a fantastic recent run of form but it's hard to see them getting out of trouble after this. Worthington, surely gutted, did supremely well to hide his disappointment.
"That's what football is all about, it was a great game," he said. "The entertainment value was terrific and both sets of fans created a magnificent atmosphere.
"I thought it was going to be 10-10 the way the first half went but my players gave their all and as a manager you can't ask for any more.
"It's looking difficult now but we'll keep going and don't write us off. Football is a strange game."
And for evidence of that, just grab a tape of yesterday's rollercoaster 90 minutes. In a whirlwind start it was first blood to City with just three minutes gone.
Leon Mckenzie's cross from the left found David Bentley arriving late at the far post to fire in off the body of Saints keeper Antti Niemi.
Norwich cheers were still ringing when Southampton equalised. Skipper Kevin Phillips picked out Matt Oakley wide on the right of the box and he swept the ball home.
Canaries centre-forward Dean Ashton rapped the Saints post with a blistering 18-yard drive before Redknapp's side took a 19th-minute lead through lanky hit-man Crouch.
Both Crouch - who won a Championship medal on the back of a loan spell at Norwich in December 2003 - and Camara shouldn't have been playing. The two had struggled all week with hamstring injuries but Redknapp, a committed punter, gambled on their fitness and it paid dividends.
Crouch showed great technique from 14 yards to volley in his 15th of the season from Rory Delap's inviting cross and was denied a second by excellent City keeper Robert Green.
And Norwich made the most of the let-off to force home an equaliser when Danny Higginbotham deflected Darren Huckerby's cross for an own goal.
Niemi then denied Huckerby and Bentley before Graeme Le Saux rifled in Southampton's third on 38 minutes - only for them to be undone in first-half injury time when McKenzie finished off Ashton's flick from a long Green punt to send Saints in at half-time distraught.
Chances were created and missed at both ends - Niemi made a wonder stop from sub Simon Charlton's 80th-minute header - before Camara clicked into action and quite possibly closed the shutters on Norwich's Premiership existence.GAMES TO PLAY SOUTHAMPTON NORWICHC Palace(a) May 7
Man Utd(h) May 15Birmingham(h) May 7
Fulham(a) May 15