Bolton 1 Southampton 1
An equaliser from Kevin Phillips midway through the second half, followed by some superb saves from Antti Niemi, combined to give Southampton a point that took Harry Redknapp's side out of the relegation zone on goal difference last night. But they are still threatened by a resurgent West Bromwich who have two games in hand.
Saturday's defeat by Aston Villa, when Southampton dominated the first hour, was a devastating blow for Redknapp and his players with matches now fast running out. "We've got to believe that we can do it," said Redknapp after what had been the worst few days of his managerial career.
The simple truth, no matter who their manager has been this season, is that the Saints had won only one away match in the Premiership before last night. It was a typical windy night at the Reebok, a stadium that could never be accused of being cosy. Southampton needed to forget about that half-hour against Villa, to get the ball down, and to stifle the Bolton attack. Those Saints's fans looking for the positive must have clung to the statistic that their side had not previously lost here in the Premiership.
El Hadji Diouf, who had won the game for Bolton at Charlton was preferred to Kevin Davies in attack, which meant a slightly different pattern of play from the home side against Southampton's three-man central defence.
The first chance fell to Bruno N'Gotty, who had a free header from a corner but could not keep the ball down. Bolton had the bulk of possession although initially were no real threat. But gradually they began to push Southampton back, as was to be expected of a side with European aspirations.
Southampton's attacks were understandably limited. The idea was to get Graeme Le Saux and Rory Delap out wide and looking to expose any perceived weaknesses down the Bolton flank. However, it was virtually impossible for either of them to get forward with any consistency, such was Bolton's dominance.
Stelios Giannakopoulos might have put Bolton ahead after Nigel Quashie blocked Kevin Nolan but the ball did not fall kindly for the Greek. Minutes later Jay-Jay Okocha played the ball square for Fernando Hierro, whose fierce shot was goal bound but deflected wide.
However, the home goal had to come. Diouf received the ball out on the right and rather too easily was allowed to cross where Giannakopoulos, dwarfed by the Southampton defenders, was unaccountably allowed to get in a decisive header from close range.
Redknapp had complained before the match about the lack of leadership in his defence and must have been livid at this soft goal. All his attempts to lift the morale of his beleaguered team had again been flattened.
The pressure continued to build with both Giannakopoulos and Okocha missing reasonable chances in succession. There was no doubting Southampton's efforts, but they simply could not get hold of the ball and, when they did, they gave it away far too easily.
The one consolation for Southampton was that for all Bolton's first-half dominance and variety - the latter of which was considerable with Giannakopoulos and Diouf free to roam anywhere - they were only one goal down at half-time.
Southampton replaced Le Saux with Matt Oakley and reverted to a more orthodox 4-4-2, but before they could reorganise themselves completely Bolton should have extended their lead. Giannakopoulos crossed from the right and, after Speed's challenge, the ball fell to an unmarked Diouf, who missed horribly. Neither he nor his team-mates could believe it.
Southampton, without a single chance in the first half, took this miss as an unexpected reason to be cheerful and it needed a fine double save by Jussi Jaaskelainen, on his 30th birthday, to prevent first Peter Crouch and then the substitute Oakley from equalising. Oakley, in fact, had a second chance to square the match, but when a simple side-foot might have done he crashed the ball over.
BOLTON WANDERERS:Jaaskelainen, Hunt, N'Gotty, Ben Haim, Candela (Gardner 87 mins), Hierro, Nolan (Davies 65 mins), Okocha, Speed, Giannakopoulos (Jaidi 90 mins), Diouf. Subs not used: Poole, Campo. Booked: Ben Haim, Giannakopoulos. Goal: Giannakopoulos 25.
SOUTHAMPTON:Niemi, Delap, Lundekvam, Jakobsson, Le Saux (Oakley 45 mins), Telfer, Quashie, Anders Svensson (Nilsson 80 mins), Higginbotham, Crouch, Phillips. Subs not used: Smith, Camara, Davenport. Goal: Phillips 69.
Referee:M Clattenburg (Co Durham).