KING KANOUTE turned the tide for washed-up West Ham to leave Saints all at sea once more - and ultimately cost Stuart Gray his job.

Both teams went into this match under huge pressure after bad defeats, but it is Hammers boss Glenn Roeder who can now breathe a little more easily thanks to two free headers from Frederic Kanoute.

Meanwhile Gray has found himself the latest addition to the managerial scrapheap, paying the price for Saints' woeful start to the season, allied to an inability to bring in new signings.

It has been painfully obvious all season that Saints need a top quality goalscorer and the crippling loss of Dean Richards makes a centre-back an urgent essential.

Sadly that same point has been made in virtually every match report this season while points continue to slip away.

Gray must have felt he was not getting a fair crack at the job. He lost his best player and was not able to spend a penny of the club record fee.

Saints did not play badly here - they just weren't good enough.

The commitment was certainly there with Chris Marsden leading by example to relentlessly drive the side on.

And James Beattie worked his socks off despite the lack of service. He frequently chased back to win the ball or wide to put in the kind of cross he should have been on the end of!

The team was reasonably solid except for the fatal and familiar lapse of concentration for the first goal which left them chasing the game - again!

But there was definitely something missing - a spark, a flash of inspiration, a genuine cutting edge.

The players themselves looked flat, as though they needed the instant lift which comes with a new arrival.

For all their undoubted effort, there was no real zest or zip or conviction to their game as they laboured rather than sparkled.

And there was no depth, either to their play or to their squad.

The ploy was to do a tight containing job to build up the impatience among the home fans before striking on the break. But once that was undone by the first goal, there was nowhere to go. The failure to bring in a frontman meant Gray had no-one on the bench to turn the game around.

The first half was solid, if unspectacular, with Paul Jones making some good reaction stops but without either side really threatening.

But it all went wrong on 52 minutes when Jason Dodd was harshly penalised for a foul on Paolo di Canio which should have been the other way round.

It would be wrong to blame that incorrect decision entirely.

Far more serious was the way the kick was not defended. Mark Draper and Rory Delap left it to each other to close down allowing Nigel Winterburn to cross from the by-line. The defence was caught ball-watching, and Claus Lundekvam lost Kanoute who had the easy task of thumping in a free header from six yards.

Time to go home then. Whenever Saints score first they win, when they let in the opener they lose.

It was the old familiar sorry story of losing concentration, conceding the first goal, chasing the game and shipping the second as they slipped to their fifth 2-0 defeat in eight league games!

They upped the tempo but still without every really looking convincing, and with no striker on the bench, Gray had to gamble in his reshuffle.

Anders Svensson made little impact replacing Kevin Davies but who has still to be used in his best role.

Instead he is having to try to correct the imbalance by filling in the hole left by Hassan Kachloul who has not been properly replaced.

Gray was booed for sending on Stuart Ripley for the ineffective Marian Pahars. The thinking was for the winger to attack the tiring Nigel Winterburn to hang up some crosses for Rory Delap thrust into attack.

In hindsight it might have been better to throw on Dan Petrescu, who at least carries a goal threat.

It all became academic 10 minutes from time when Di Canio's shot rebounded off the bar straight onto the head of Kanoute who could not miss the gaping goal.

The French striker is the scourge of Southampton having now scored four goals in his last three games against them to fire the Hammers to victory each time.

The truly concerning aspect to this defeat though was the effect it will have on the two teams.

West Ham's confidence was shot away and defeat would have thrust them into deep crisis, but this may now fire them away from trouble.

Meanwhile Saints have lurched back into trouble in desperate need of a pick-me-up. Gordon Strachan will have little more than 48 hours to get to know his players, and provide the inspiration to pick up three vital points against Ipswich.

More importantly, how soon will he be able to boost a squad in bad need of strengthening.