Aston Villa - 0 Southampton - 1 Southampton enjoyed their first win on the road since March at Villa Park last night thanks to a James Beattie penalty at the start of the second half.
Their manager Gordon Strachan, who celebrates a year in charge of Southampton today, needed a draw here to reach 50 points and he came away smiling with three.
Villa were reduced to 10 men because of the sending off of goalkeeper Peter Enckelman in the penalty incident. But even before that they had been something of a disappointment.
It was the bleak record of these clubs this season, rather than the TV cameras, that dissuaded many folk from turning up last night.
These goal-shy sides went into this unpromising fixture having each scored only nine times in nine games - and Villa failed to score in six of those.
Graham Taylor's protestation that the break for international matches had come at the wrong time after encouraging performances against Luton and Leeds sounded like a case of getting the excuses in early.
The first half, though, was an enterprising affair in which both sides created a number of chances in the damp, mild conditions.
The first fell to Darius Vassell, scorer of both goals in Villa's 2-1 win in the corresponding fixture last season.This time he seemed to be suffering a hangover from last week's international appearance when he shot over in the eighth minute.
In the 12th minute, Alpay Ozalan, who replaced the injured Ronny Johnsen in the middle of Villa's defence, hooked off the line after a head-down charge from Anders Svensson.
Then Wayne Bridge's well-timed challenge denied another effort from Vassell.
Slowly, tentatively, Villa began to emerge the stronger side, but once again poor finishing betrayed them. When the ball came over from the right in the 19th minute Gareth Barry cleverly bought himself some shooting room only to miss the target from 10 yards.
Southampton needed only 17 seconds of the second half before they were awarded the penalty that gave them the lead.
Brett Ormerod had had a quiet match until then, but when he popped up on the edge of the Villa penalty area he seemed to catch the home defence by surprise.
Alpay, who had been having an impressive match in his first start for five weeks, was caught on the wrong side of the striker and grabbed at him.
Enckelman came out and challenged clumsily and Ormerod went down in the collision.
Steve Bennett flourished his second red card of the season. Enckelman was off and Taylor replaced him with his £1.5 million Dutch goalkeeper Stefan Postma, bringing off Mark Kinsella.
Postma got close to the penalty from James Beattie, which went low to his right, but could not stop it entering the net.
Villa looked shattered, and attacked for the rest of the game more in desperation than in hope
ASTON VILLA: Enckelman, Mellberg, Alpay, Staunton, De la Cruz (Hadji 57), Hendrie (Moore 83), Kinsella (Postma 47), Barry, Samuel, Dublin, Vassell. Subs Not Used: Angel, Leonhardsen. Sent Off: Enckelman (46). Booked: Hendrie, Staunton, Barry.
SOUTHAMPTON: Niemi, Dodd, Lundekvam (Williams 73), Michael Svensson, Bridge, Fernandes (Telfer 90), Delap, Anders Svensson, Marsden, Beattie, Ormerod (Tessem 77). Subs Not Used: Jones, Oakley. Booked: Delap. Goals: Beattie 48 pen.
Referee: S Bennett (Kent).
