Southampton can just smell the sweet air of Premiership safety after grabbing three valuable points at the Friends Provident St Mary's Stadium this afternoon.

Goals from Matthew Oakley and Marian Pahars earned Gordon Strachan's side a comfortable win over Derby, pushing The Rams closer to relegation and Division 1 football with fellow Midlands side Leicester City who were consigned to the drop after losing to Manchester United this lunchtime.

For Southampton, with four more matches remaining, they stand on 41 points this evening and safety is all but assured.

Saints have drawn their last four at home and looked tentative in recent matches, but despite the high stakes at St Mary's this afternoon, the free-flowing passing football was in evidence, rounded off by two strikes of quality.

First, Matthew Oakley chalked up his first goal of the season with a cracking right-foot volley after 28 minutes, and then eight minutes into the second-half Marian Pahars latched on to Rory Delap's long throw to bag his 16th goal of the season.

Saints had to weather the occasional Derby storm and The Rams will look back on the moment four minutes from half-time when Chris Riggott crashed his shot against the crossbar as one of the defining moments of a troubled season at Pride Park.

FOR FULL MATCH REPORTS AND PICTURES SEE TONIGHT'S PINK AND THE DAILY ECHO SPORT SUPPLEMENT ON MONDAY.