EGIL OSTENSTAD put a night to forget behind him to squeeze stuttering Southampton into the last eight of the League Cup and hand Graeme Souness a flu cure that might just have perked him up.

The Norwegian had missed two great chances either side of the interval in a tie that bubbled over with chances.

But when the inspirational Eyal Berkovic carved open the Oxford defence for the umpteenth time just before the hour Ostenstad was on the spot to force home his sixth goal in English football and end Southampton's six-game winless run.

Berkovic, the Israeli midfielder, ran the game from the outset, teasing and torturing the under-pressure Oxford back division.

Berkovic laid on great chances for both Gordon Watson and Ostenstad in the opening 20 minutes, eventually showing both of them the way to goal when he took Watson's 22nd minute pass to drill home.

Oxford levelled two minutes before the break. Les Robinson, out on the right, played the ball in and Nigel Jemson steered a header past a stranded Dave Beasant into the bottom corner.

Berkovic then prompted a foul by Gray, and although the former Oxford man, Jim Magilton, hit the free-kick into the wall, he was given room to cross a second time.

This time nobody got in the way - of either the ball or the three Southampton players who converged on it - with Richard Dryden heading home.

Berkovic then had the Oxford defence in disarray and after advancing to the edge of the box produced a right-footer that Phil Whitehead could only parry for Ostenstad to convert from six yards.

Not that Denis Smith's side were in the mood for giving up, with Bob Ford instantly halving arrears with a 30-yarder that floated past the tentative Beasant.