Anders Svensson maintained his Indian sign over former Saint Micky Adams with a superb double strike as Southampton pulled off a convincing and vital win over relegation rivals Leicester.

Previously Svensson's only other goal in English football had been a Worthington League Cup double at Brighton, then managed by Adams, who is now first-team coach with Leicester.

And the super Swede did it again at Filbert Street firing his side in front after 12-minutes and then grabbing his second by forcing home from close-range 16-minutes from time.

In between, Beattie had showed good anticipation to spin away from Matthew Heath and sweep home a low cross by Marian Pahars on 63-minutes and effectively kill-off the game.

And a magnificent afternoon was rounded off in the final minute when Dodd crossed low for Pahars to control at the far post before checking inside and firing home.

It was Southampton's first win at Filbert Street since October 25, 1986 and their first here in the Premiership. And it was enough to lift them out of the bottom three at the expense of Leicester.

There was no doubt it was well deserved as Gordon Strachan's team produced some superb one-touch passing football while maintaining an iron grip on the game.

However they did need three superb saves from Paul Jones, including two in a minute from James Scowcroft headers on the end of crosses by Dennis Wise.

*** GET THE FULL REPORT AND ANALYSIS HERE AND IN THE DAILY ECHO ON MONDAY. ***