This is the kind of result that Southampton would have been expecting at the beginning of the season, but it has taken them a long time to get used to playing in the Premier League, now they have to try again another season.
Remember that at the beginning of the season, Southampton under the management of Russell Martin were trying to play football like a "big" team, passing out from the back, holding possession even in dangerous positions, etc, and it cost them dearly, because they didn't have the personnel to play in that way.
Thus they kept on making errors leading to goals and they found themselves in a position of no return, unlike yesterday, they respected City, sat very deep and put all men behind the ball, and in the end they got a point for all their troubles. That is how smaller teams grind out results and get valuable points, not like what they were trying to do at the beginning of the season.