You could not have blamed Dave Jones for wanting to punch Claus Lundekvam when the pair bumped into each other after the final whistle.

After completing a radio interview in the media mix zone between the players' changing rooms and the tunnel, Jones passed Lundekvam as the Saints skipper prepared to talk yet another interviewer through his second competitive goal for the club in ten years.

The only survivor from Saturday's team that played under Jones at the Dell, Lundekvam smiled as Jones caught his eye.

"You score two ******g goals in your whole career and you score them both against me!" exclaimed the Cardiff boss after a defeat that boosted Saints' survival hopes while denting the Welsh club's play-off ambitions.

"It was nothing personal," replied Lundekvam, before clenching Jones's hand and recalling the 48th-minute header that put Saints on their way to a first win in six games since beating Sheffield Wednesday 3-0 at St Mary's at the end of February.

Lundekvam has achieved cult status for the rarity of his goals, so when he glanced a 48th-minute Jim Brennan flag-kick into the far corner from the near post, there were scenes of wild celebration from the Saints fans.

You have to go back to April 3, 2004 for Lundekvam's only other Saints goal, a scrambled effort against Wolves at Molineux that helped sentence Jones to relegation from the Premiership.

Cardiff are now eight points adrift of the play-offs while Saints are now surely safe from what would be a catastrophic second relegation in as many years.

Thanks to Millwall's defeat at home to second-from-bottom Brighton, who Saints visit on Saturday, George Burley's men now have a ten-point cushion over the bottom three.

Surely that will not be frittered away in the last five games?

Confidence has now been restored and Ricardo Fuller is a prime example. After being farmed out on loan to Ipswich, where he was sent off in his last game at Crystal Palace a fortnight ago, the 26-year-old was recalled by Burley and started on Saturday having been suspended for the 1-1 draw at Burnley.

Although he was given his marching orders for gestures made to a linesman at Selhurst Park, Fuller impressed Ipswich boss Joe Royle with his two goals in three appearances.

And Burley has been delighted with what he has seen from Fuller both in training and on Saturday.

The Jamaican was a threat with his pace in the second half and, after cutting in from the right, he found the bottom corner with his left foot to give Saints a 70th-minute lead.

Within five minutes he was hooking home another from 12 yards following a Jermaine Wright corner.

It says a lot for the wretchedness of the club's season that Fuller's first Saints goals since October make him the joint-leading scorer.

Along with the departed Theo Walcott and Nigel Quashie, Fuller now has five Saints goals to his name.

It is also fair to say that he has not scored any as important as the five-minute brace that illuminated a thrilling second half.

Home debutant Kevin Miller and Jim Brennan had kept Saints level at the break.

Miller, who celebrated his 37th birthday last month and who became Saints' 40th player used in competitive action this season at Burnley, clawed away a 20-yard Jason Koumas free-kick and Brennan headed Glen Loovens's header off the goalline.

But Peter Madsen, who played on the right of midfield to accommodate Fuller, should have given Saints a half-time lead.

After a one-two with Grzegorz Rasiak, Madsen found himself one on one with Neil Alexander, but miscued the ball into the arms of the keeper.

Lundekvam brought the game to life with his near-post flick, but a goalmouth melee resulted in a bizarre Cardiff equaliser.

Teenage striker Cameron Jerome eventually netted his 17th league goal of the season, but only after a goalline clearance and the bar had kept City out.

Fuller responded with his double and an injury-time header from defender Darren Purse - the man who turned down Saints last summer to move to Cardiff - proved to be just a consolation.