Alan Thompson was sent off and Bradley Wright-Phillips scored a late Southampton winner as Leeds hit the self-destruct button in their bid to avoid relegation from the Coca-Cola Championship.

Midfielder Thompson was shown a straight red card in the 32nd minute after wrestling with Southampton's Jhon Viafara, prompting angry scenes at St Mary's with stewards keeping furious Leeds players apart from referee Tony Bates.

Wright-Phillips then climbed off the bench to settle a one-sided encounter and keep Saints' slim play-off hopes alive, while shoving Leeds another step closer to League One.

The team which six years ago this week qualified for the Champions League semi-final remain in the drop zone, and will need to take something from their two remaining games to avoid looking a decent bet for the Johnstone's Paint Trophy semis next season.

Leeds were without centre-half Lubomir Michalik, who this week returned to Bolton, and looked shaky at the back in the opening moments when crosses from Viafara and Chris Baird whistled across the penalty area.

Inigo Idiakez then had a free-kick palmed out by Casper Ankergren and Kenwyne Jones blasted the rebound high and wide before Andrew Surman wriggled clear to cross for Grzegorz Rasiak, who was denied by Matt Heath's block.

Leeds won the corresponding fixture 4-3 last season after being 3-0 down at half-time, and at times looked intent on giving their injury-hit hosts a similar head-start with an edgy display.

Boss Dennis Wise - who was in that Saints line-up and was substituted at the interval - was relieved to see Rasiak waste a golden opportunity in the 21st minute when he headed Surman's dangerous cross over.

Fit-again skipper Claus Lundekvam then met Idiakez's free-kick with a bullet header which flew inches over the crossbar.

The match erupted in the 32nd minute when Thompson grabbed Viafara round the back of the neck as the Colombian went to collect the ball following a foul.

After a lengthy consultation with his linesman, referee Bates brandished the red card to reduce Leeds to 10 men.

Five bookings followed in quick succession as vendettas sprang up all over the pitch, before Jones got on the end of Rudi Skacel's cross and forced a smart save from Ankergren in first-half stoppage time.

Jones thought he had fired Saints ahead moments after the restart when he tucked away Skacel's long cross, but an offside flag brought an end to his celebrations.

The young striker headed straight at Ankergren before Surman hit the side-netting as the hosts piled forward.

Southampton were almost caught out by an overhead kick from Hayden Foxe midway through the second half, but the Australian's effort flew over.

Rasiak squandered two glorious chances with weak headers before Saints nearly fell to another sucker-punch, Pele bravely blocking Radostin Kishishev's goalbound shot.

But the goal finally came six minutes from time when Leeds failed to deal with a cross from fellow sub Djamel Belmabi and Wright-Phillips hooked the ball home via the underside of the crossbar.

Rasiak had the ball in the net again moments later, only to be denied by another offside flag, but Saints saw out a nervy final few minutes to leave Leeds in deep trouble.

After the final whistle police and stewards had to move in to separate rival fans who were hurling missiles at each other.