Kenwyne Jones and Leon Best secured Saints' place in the Coca-Cola Championship play-offs this afternoon as George Burley's side survived an early scare to emphatically beat relegated Southend at St Mary's.

Shrimpers centre-half Adam Barrett hit an exquisite volley in the 13th minute to stun Saints, who needed a win to secure their place in the top six and a lucrative shot at the Premiership.

But Jones nodded Saints level after 28 minutes before Best prodded home the simplest strike of his fledgling career to keep Saints in with a shout of a return to the top flight.

Best was on-target again with 10 minutes remaining to settle the nerves before Jones rounded off the victory with his 16th goal of the season.

Worryingly for Burley, though, skipper Claus Lundekvam was stretchered off with a suspected broken leg in first-half stoppage time.

An emotional St Mary's had held a minute's applause prior to kick-off for Alan Ball, as Saints staged their first home game since the death of their legendary former player and manager.

Southend were without arguably their three key players in Freddy Eastwood, Mark Gower, and captain Kevin Maher, and appeared unlikely to spoil the party.

But they were determined not to bow out of the Championship with a whimper, and Chris Baird did well to clear a Richie Foran cross with Lee Bradbury lurking.

Moments later they took a surprise lead when Southampton failed to clear their lines on the edge of the area, allowing ex-Pompey man Bradbury to tee up Barrett for a superb 20-yard volley which flew past Bartosz Bialkowski.

Foran then sent a header narrowly over from Alan McCormack's cross with Saints reeling.

Saints eventually settled and Best headed over from a Gareth Bale cross and Jones saw an effort scrambled off the line before the Trinidad and Tobago international got them back on level terms.

Bale swung in a cross from the left towards the unmarked Jones, who powerfully headed past Saints fan and ex-Dell trainee Darryl Flahavan from close range.

Flahavan then pulled off a stunning save to keep the scores level, tipping Jones' fierce drive on to the crossbar.

Lundekvam was then carried off after falling awkwardly but the hosts started the second half like a train and were ahead after just three minutes when Jones challenged Flahavan for a high ball.

The Shrimpers keeper dropped it at the feet of defender Peter Clarke, who attempted to clear from under the crossbar only to balloon the ball high in the air and back on to the goal line, where Best tapped home.

Djamel Belmadi had a shot blocked, and Jones went through one-on-one with Flahavan only to shoot into the keeper's chest, as Saints, who have not been averse to throwing away leads this season, pressed for a killer third.

They were rewarded with two goals in a minute - the first through Best after he latched onto substitute Rudi Skacel's cross and buried the ball past Flahavan.

And moments later Best broke clear again and was brought down by Flahavan, but Jones saved referee Nigel Miller a penalty decision by rifling the loose ball home to leave Saints dreaming of Wembley and the Premiership.

Saints now host Burley's former club Derby in the first leg of their play off semi final next Saturday at St Mary's. The second leg takes place three days later.

The winners will play West Midlands rivals West Bromwich Albion or Wolves at the new Wembley Stadium for the £60m jackpot ticket of promotion.

For the best coverage from St Mary's, don't miss tomorrow's Daily Echo.