While football is a team game, few sides ever did anything significant without a goalscorer.

That player who has the handy knack of producing goals is a key individual in a team sport.

They of course cannot create and score on their own, but without them the chances of success are greatly diminished.

It’s sometimes hard to really explain exactly what it is that they possess, how they find it so simple to put the ball in the net so often when other, possibly more skilful players cannot.

But whatever that little extra is, whether it be physical or mental, it is a valuable commodity. It’s why teams pay so much in the search for a goalscorer.

Saints have had an obvious talisman during the success they have enjoyed in recent years.

Rickie Lambert started it all, then handed over to Graziano Pelle.

Now it is the turn of Charlie Austin.

There are times when you see him trying to get back to provide whatever help he can wide in midfield when you wonder whether Claude Puel’s system really fits him as best it could, when what you really want is him in the box.

But you cannot argue with the fact he has got himself there enough times to hit a prolific run of form.

Saints’ goalscorer now has five in his last four games, and his importance cannot be underestimated. It’s also why he keeps playing around two-thirds of a game before being withdrawn to try and get him into the team for every game during this demanding run of fixtures.

Puel said last week that by the end of the season he hoped that 14 or 15 different players would have scored for Saints over the course of this Premier League season.

After six games there have been five, plus an own goal.

It’s a good aim to have, but even so having somebody who buries chances with incredible regularity is still so vital.

Austin popped up again with an important goal out of nowhere, which provided the catalyst for Saints to continue their fine recent form with a first win on the road in the Premier League this season at West Ham.

There is no doubt the Hammers are struggling to come to terms with life in the London Stadium, an impressive place for a football ground but so cavernous and with spectators so far away from the pitch that it struggles for atmosphere.

West Ham looked like a team lacking in confidence, and indeed played more like an away outfit than a confident home side.

They were prepared to sit deep and allow Saints their patient build-up play from the back while trying to use their pace on the counter attack. That suited Saints fine, who for their part look like they understand the diamond formation far better now.

A pretty uninspiring start to the match came to an end as Austin put Saints ahead five minutes before half time.

Dusan Tadic fed the ball inside to Ryan Bertrand overlapping down the left.

He cut it back to Austin 12 yards out whose first time left footed shot wasn’t struck particularly cleanly but had pinpoint accuracy meaning Adrian couldn’t prevent it going into the bottom corner.

Saints suddenly looked buoyed with confidence, and West Ham the opposite, and they might have had another before half time as Nathan Redmond forced Adrian to save at his near post while Cedric Soares thrashed an effort into the side netting.

Saints came out looking assured at the start of the second period and Tadic should have done better with his first time effort from Cedric’s cut back which gave Adrian the chance to make a save.

They was no denying Tadic on 62 minutes as Austin turned provider.

West Ham were loose in possession, but Saints were not, winning the ball back cheaply before Nathan Redmond fed it in to Austin, who flicked it round the corner to Tadic whose drop of the shoulder committed Adrian and left him to roll the ball into the empty net.

Steven Davis might have added another but side footed over the bar from the edge of the box after being found by Redmond as rampant Saints launched wave after wave of attack.

Moments later Davis ignored Austin and tried to go it alone when presented with a sniff of a chance in the box but his shot was blocked.

West Ham briefly rallied with optimistic shouts for a penalty as Sofiane Feghouli drilled the ball into the arm of Ryan Bertrand from just a couple of yards, Dimitri Payet side footed wide from the edge of the area and Virgil van Dijk was in the right place at the right time to clear off the line after a goalmouth scramble.

But it was Saints who looked more likely to get another with Adrian saving at his near post from Redmond, diving to save a driven shot from James Ward-Prowse and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg going close.

Saints did eventually bag a third in stoppage time as they walked through the Hammers backline with embarrassing ease before Davis presented Ward-Prowse with a fairly simple chance to convert from eight yards out.

The goals, and the wins, just keep on flowing.