Travelling support meant 'it felt like a home game' for Saints at Tottenham

The black, green and gold were backed by a huge army of travelling fans, who lifted the noise levels time and again on Saturday evening.

The celebrations that greeted Saints' three tries made it clear just how many of their supporters were in the stands.

And Pearson was delighted that the team could deliver a 21-17 win for those who made the effort to travel to Tottenham.

"It felt like a home game at times," said Pearson, who was named man of the match.

"I know there were a lot of neutrals but there was a lot of the Shoe Army there and to have them travel and give us the support, we're glad we could put on the show for them."

Pearson loved the experience of playing at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

"It was unbelievable," he said. "We came here for touches with our football shirts on the day before the game and I think a few boys thought they were (Tottenham striker) Richarlison out there!

"We were loving it and what a cool place to play!

"I'd been here once before to watch a game but to play here for the first time and get the win, I'll remember that for a long time."

So what football shirt did Pearson wear when Saints travelled to the stadium for some light training on Friday?

"I had a Barcelona top on," he said.

"We had all sorts: Ipswich, Wycombe Wanderers, MK Dons, one or two Cobblers shirts - there was a real mixture."

Flanker Pearson produced a massive performance, continuing his fine season for Saints.

"I felt like I was doing my job and if everyone does their job well, normally good things happen," he said.

"If we do three or four good things in a row as a team, we normally come away with points so as long as we can do that as often as possible we can get results."

Saints had led 14-0 against Saracens, who roared back to take a 17-14 advantage before Archie McParland popped up with a try to win it late on.

"The last three times we've played Saracens, we've won in that sort of way," Pearson said.

"The way we look at it, you can't win the game in the first minute but you can win it in the 80th minute and we've just got to back our process.

"We know that one slip-up from them and we're in so that's what happened in the end and we're over the moon.

"There were a few injuries in there, which is never ideal, but we were able to galvanise and finish the game strong.

"You never know how many chances you're going to get to get over the line, and getting held up twice wasn't ideal, but we knew with the goal-line drop-out we'd have another go at it.

"When Litch (Tom Litchfield) went through and gave the ball to Arch, it was scenes!"

Centre Tom Litchfield was a key figure for Saints, opening the scoring and setting up the winner for McParland.

"Litch is giving us unreal go-forward in the midfield, beating guys for fun and he's a young guy who has played a lot of rugby for us," Pearson said.

"He's been so good and I think he was outstanding in this game."

Next up for Saints is a huge Investec Champions Cup round of 16 home clash with Castres Olympique on Friday night.

And Pearson said: "Perfect combination (playing a big European game at home on a Friday night).

"We don't want to look too far ahead but we've done well to get ourselves in position to get a home game and it's not too many games to get to (the final in) Bilbao.

"Castres have been going well in the Top 14 so we'll have to be on it with a six-day turnaround."