SAINTS continued to put smiles on supporters’ faces with a hard-earned and potentially season-defining 39-16 win against Catalans Dragons, writes Mike Parsons.

A top-four finish, and the final hurdle to Old Trafford that comes with it, looks more likely by the week - with this seventh straight win putting a four-point gap between themselves and the French outfit, the only realistic challengers.

The number four was a prevalent feature of the night, with winger Adam Swift crossing for a stylish quartet of tries that eventually took Saints out of reach while it is also the number on the back of in-form centre Mark Percival, whose exit from the game with a leg injury looks set to see him spend time on the sidelines.

Despite Swift’s scoring prowess, this was not a win earned by individuals.

The work ethic and togetherness that has typified the way Keiron Cunningham’s men have turned their campaign around over the past two months was evident in bucket loads again and especially noticeable in the incident packed 15-minute periods either side of half time.

Saints soaked up quite a lot thrown at them from the French team and chucked it back with cream on top as they nudged ahead for the first time after 26 minutes.

But they lost Percival in the break to that second try from Swift and no sooner had a reshuffle been completed – with Dominique Peyroux swapping centres, Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook dropping out of the pack and Morgan Knowles slotting into the back row - they were having to work overtime as 12 men.

Influential Luke Walsh ended up in the sin bin for a spear tackle on opposite scrum half Lucas Albert and Les Catalans sniffed an opportunity to strike back.

Such was the commitment and focus to the required additional effort at the back end of a physical half, Saints conceded only once through a Jason Baitieri try and that came on the end of a piggy-back penalty.

It must have been a sickener for the Perpignan outfit when a perfectly weighted Jordan Turner kick allowed Swift to pounce on the ball and cut inside the covering full-back Tony Gigot to complete his hat-trick on the hooter.

With Walsh still off the field, Jack Owens booted over the conversion from wide out to give Saints a 16-12 interval lead.

Saints knew they needed to step it up a level at the start of the second half and Walsh’s return from the bin helped with that.

And while Saints were strengthened again, the visitors were weakened by the loss of stand off Todd Carney and winger Jodie Broughton with knee injuries.

Catalans still took some breaking down and on a run of four successive penalties in which Catalans struggled to control Saints’ play-the-ball speed Walsh booted over two kicks and Swift dived over for his fourth try from a smart Knowles pass.

At 26-12 Saints looked to have the game in the bag and when Catalans lost back rower Justin Horo minutes later with concussion and an ankle injury following a clash of heads with Luke Thompson the steam of the visitors' threat probably vaporised.

With Australian prop Dave Taylor - one of the biggest men in rugby league - having to spend longer on the field than normal and doing so in the left centre spot, it presented Cunningham’s men with a target to exploit.

That did not happen straight away as French resistance held out as long as it could.

A Walsh drop goal was followed by a Catalans response through Vincent Duport that narrowed the gap to 11 points.

But eventually Joe Greenwood, with a solo run, and Jack Owens, hunting down a Walsh kick, added their names to the scoresheet on Taylor’s side of the field to ensure there was going to be no late drama.

It was not a perfect Saints display, but they wore the 80 minutes well.

Jonny Lomax came to the rescue a couple of times in the opening 20 minutes, with one tackle on Carney particularly eye-catching.

They rode some luck early on too, with the ‘forward pass’ call from referee James Child for the feed from Eloi Pelissier to put Louis Anderson over looking 50:50 on replays.

Saints got the wrong end of the ref’s call for a couple later on but it is an unwritten rule of rugby league that if you can make a habit of winning then the decisions seem to go your way more often.

That is the roll Saints are on at the moment and long may it continue.