AS James Beattie walked away from The Dell after his match-winning performance, a barrage of fireworks lit up the night sky.

He gazed upwards and joked: "I know it's been a long time since I scored but there's no need to lay on that kind of celebration!"

But somehow the Bonfire Night pyrotechnics perfectly captured the excited mood after Beattie ended his 18-month goal drought with a couple of sparklers.

His glittering injury-time rocket was as explosive as any of the thunderflashes crackling in the air as Saints snatched a spectacular victory, their first in six games.

Against Coventry the team had come up with a real damp squib to plunge the fans into despair, and yet just three days later they illuminated The Dell with a much brighter display.

Glenn Hoddle had clearly put a firework under his men in his pre-match team talk, lighting the blue touch paper for a scorching start to the game.

James Beattie ran in unchecked to gleefully slam them in front after just two minutes and 50 seconds, slotting home a Wayne Bridge cross for his first goal since May last year.

Before the game Saints had pledged they would win if they could just get in front, as they had done against Newcastle and Mansfield.

This was their first goal in 317 minutes - and it gave them a massive confidence boost.

All the old spark came surging back as they ripped into Chelsea going forward and snapped at them in defence.

The tone was set early on by two blocks from Jason Dodd and one from Dean Richards who threw themselves in the path of fierce shots.

It was precisely that kind of iron will and courage which prevented the Blues from landing a single shot on target in the first half.

The return of Richards made a vast difference to the defence. It was not just his steel but his composure and resolution which also rubbed off on the rest of the back line.

He and Claus Lundekvam shackled Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink who looked more interested in arguing with his own team-mates than adding to his tally of six goals in the previous two games.

Possibly Chelsea imagined that Wayne Bridge might be a weak link as they persistently pushed Tore Andre Flo out wide to attack him.

If that was their thinking then Claudio Ranieri clearly knows as little about talented full-backs as England under-21 coach Howard Wilkinson who has inexplicably and persistently overlooked him.

Bridge was strong in defence and positive in attack, lifting the tempo with his driving runs and setting up the first two goals.

It was his free-kick which caused more mayhem in the disorganised Chelsea defence. Beattie failed to connect with a diving header, Frank Leboeuf miscontrolled and Jo Tessem managed to dig the ball out from a crowded goalmouth to prod home from close range.

Without the authority of the injured Marcel Desailly, the Blues were all over the place at the back with Leboeuf looking distinctly ill-at-ease against the aerial power and physical presence of Beattie roughing him up.

Saints could have been four up by half-time. Richards headed just wide and Chris Marsden thundered a shot against a post. And they also had two strong penalty shouts turned away.

Marian Pahars was booked for diving for the first, and when he was bundled over for the second the referee either had to give a second yellow card or a penalty.

But it was a different story after the break as Saints seemed to sit too deep, trying to protect what they had.

They dropped the intensity of their closing down and allowed the Londoners to come at them and build up momentum.

Paul Jones had to hurl himself full-length to keep out a thumping 25-yard shot from Sam Dalla Bona who ran the game in the second half.

Gustavo Poyet hit the bar from 20 yards before former Saints trainee Dennis Wise silenced the boo-boys on 68 minutes. He hooked in from close range with referee Jeff Winter playing advantage from a hand-ball by Dean Richards.

Poyet was given a free header for the second nine minutes later and suddenly the very real fear around The Dell was that Saints, almost inconceivably, could lose from a position of total superiority.

Confidence has been so brittle of late that this latest set-back could have proved too much. But from somewhere deep within, Saints dredged up new determination.

Tessem had a diving header kicked off the line by John Terry before Beattie's dramatic winner, reminiscent of Matthew Le Tissier's last-ditch bombs against Newcastle and Aston Villa here in the past.

It was poetic justice that the free-kick was conceded by the niggly, Wise who somehow escaped a red card even though he had already been booked and the clumsy bundle on Pahars was from behind.

The Milton Road end prepared to duck as Beattie lined up the free-kick 28 yards out with Tessem and Bridge forming a mini-wall to block the view.

As they parted, Beattie clipped it into the top right corner. Ed De Goey got a hand to it but he was beaten by the pace on the ball.

It sparked wild celebrations and not just because of the thrill of beating a side whose latest and still absent signing Jesper Gronkjaer cost more at £7.8 million than the entire Southampton squad.

After five previous games without a win it was a sense of relief that the corner has been turned and that, now free from the relegation zone, Saints can get their season back on track.