Southampton beat West Ham 1-0 at St Mary's with a Maya Yoshida goal despite the sending off of Victor Wanyama

%bull; Southampton 1-0 West Ham United - as it happened >>

The midfielder was shown his third red card of the season in the second half of a game which Saints led thanks to an early goal from Maya Yoshida.

They came under pressure late on but held firm to claim a fifth clean sheet in a row since Fraser Forster’s return to the team and to make it 13 points form the last possible 15 as they closed the gap on the sixth placed Hammers to just two points.

Interestingly, West Ham matched up the Saints formation to a large extent, pulling a surprise by also starting with what was basically a back five.

The only real difference was that the Hammers were playing two up front, whereas Saints had Graziano Pelle as the lone striker but with close support from Shane Long and Sadio Mane.

Saints so nearly took advantage of having wing backs as they came close to taking the lead on eight minutes.

Saints won the ball back cheaply and Long was able to cross from the left. Cedric Soares made a darting run into the box from right wing back and headed towards goal but Adrian produced an excellent save to deny him.

They had to wait just a minute more to take the lead, with another unlikely player popping up in the area to bag the opener.

Some quick Saints build-up play on the right after a corner had been half cleared ended with Victor Wanyama poking a cross into the six yard box where Maya Yoshida was lurking.

He pounced quickly to turn home from close range for 1-0.

West Ham started to get a foothold in the game and had appeals for a penalty turned down by referee Mark Clattenburg on 22 minutes as Enner Valencia went down in the box. The contact from Yoshida was accidental but it did appear the defender stood on the foot of the Hammers striker.

There was a scramble in the West Ham area moments later as Pelle brought down Ryan Bertrand’s looping free kick on his chest but couldn’t make contact with an attempted volley as the ball dropped.

Fraser Forster came to the rescue with an excellent save diving to his left up the other end on 29 minutes as Winston Reid flicked a header goalwards from Dimitri Payet’s fizzing left wing free kick.

Reid tried something similar from a corner seven minutes later but this time he missed the target.

The game had certainly evened out a little with the wet and windy conditions making life hard for both sides, but at half time it was Saints with the advantage to try and drive home in the second period.

Things were rather flat at the beginning of the second half.

Again both sides were sparring for superiority but neither was really able to assert themselves.

Valencia at least managed to work Forster on 52 minutes with a low drive towards goal but it was a fairly easy save for the Saints keeper at his near post.

The game took a significant turn two minutes though as Saints were reduced to ten men.

Payet was chasing across the halfway line when Wanyama launched into a tackle.

He didn’t get anywhere near the ball and Clattenburg quickly awarded a free kick.

There was some pushing and shoving and it appeared Clattenburg bought himself a few moments to consider what he was going to do before producing a red card.

Replays suggested it wasn’t really all that dangerous a challenge, but Clattenburg was probably convinced by the way in which Wanyama launched himself into it.

Koeman responded by bringing on Oriol Romeu for Mane, sacrificing attacking threat in a bid to try and hang on to what Saints already had.

West Ham tried the same trick which turned the last meeting between the sides at Upton Park by bringing on Andy Carroll with Victor Moses being replaced on 61 minutes.

They were also forced to take off the injured James Tomkins with Sam Byram coming on.

Long had the chance to give Saints a real cushion to defend two minutes later as the Hammers failed to deal with a routine high ball.

The striker picked up the loose ball and had the chance to shoot from just inside the area but off balance he fired over.

Valencia picked up a booking for a late challenge on Romeu.

West Ham were understandably pushing forward but Saints were holding firm.

The St Mary’s crowd were delighted to welcome Charlie Austin for a home debut as he replaced Pelle on 72 minutes.

The Hammers made their final switch with Emmanuel Emenike coming on for Michail Antonio.

He nearly had a dramatic instant impact as he was picked out by Valencia’s right wing cross. However, from eight yards out at the near post he headed wide when he should have done better.

Saints sat ever deeper, pretty much playing a flat back five with the two holding midfielders just in front and Long and Austin doing the chasing just ahead.

Sitting so deep, though perfectly understandable in the circumstances, meant that West Ham were having almost all of the ball and mounting a siege on the Saints defence.

However, Saints managed to launch a surprise counter attack and Austin had the chance for another remarkable goal from the bench with two minutes remaining but he sliced wide.

Saints tried to eat up some of the five minutes of added time by bringing on James Ward-Prowse for Clasie as the Hammers tried everything to find an equaliser.

They survived a late scare as West Ham appealed for a penalty for handball against Fonte but it wasn’t given and Saints held on for a big win.