SAINTS scored three goals in a Championship match for the first time this season as Tonda Eckert’s side won 3-1 against Sheffield Wednesday.
Saints fans chanted loudly against the possible hire of former Portsmouth ace Gary O’Neil, with owner Dragan Solak in earshot from his box.
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But Caspar Jander, Finn Azaz and Harry Amass all scored their first goals for their respective clubs inside an action-packed 25 minutes of the first half.
Adam Armstrong hit his fifth of the season at the start of the second, ensuring interim boss Eckert’s 100 per cent win record was maintained.
The result also meant Saints won back-to-back league games for the first time since April 2024 and climbed to 18 points from their 15 matches.
The Owls have won fewer points than any other team in the league this season, even before their 12-point deduction for entering administration.
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At kick-off, they had scored fewer goals than any other team too, but came full of spirit ahead of a new dawn without infamous owner Dejphon Chansiri.
Eckert made only one change from Wednesday’s win at QPR, with Azaz replacing goalscorer Jay Robinson from the start to keep the teen fresh.
Barnaby Williams, who soon turns 19, came on at half-time for his senior debut, having spent last season sidelined after being involved in a car crash.
Saints went close to an early opener when Sean Fusire nearly put into his own net in a mix-up trying to defend a deep Taylor Harwood-Bellis cross.
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And Jander did open his Saints account in the ninth minute, giving his side the lead after the referee adjudged his effort to have just crossed the line.
The German arrived onto a low cross from Ryan Manning, taking a touch before firing at Ethan Horvath – who flapped at it and parried it over his head.
Azaz doubled the lead less than 10 minutes later, finishing his first for the club first-time across the goalkeeper from a tight angle in the 18-yard box.
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Tom Fellows set his fellow summer signing up, shrugging off a tackle, edging towards the goal and slipping a disguised pass to Azaz behind the defence.
But the entertainment continued quickly when Man United loanee Amass rounded two players with ease and struck into the corner from range.
The 18 year old feinted past Azaz while Barry Bannan blocked Jander’s tackle, and a slight deflection might have helped his shot on the way.
Azaz looked certain to have scored his second, but Fusire blocked off the line after Horvath had spilt and parried shots from Armstrong and Jander.
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Youngster Williams replaced Flynn Downes at half-time, and within 120 seconds of the restart, Armstrong restored Southampton’s two-goal lead.
A perfect Harwood-Bellis pass from deep set him away, and the number nine jinked inside past one defender before poking into the corner to finish.
Saints coasted to the three points at the finish line and could have gone further ahead when Azaz got his header from a central position all wrong.
There was a minor concern in the closing stages of the match, when second-half substitute Mads Roerslec was himself withdrawn through injury.
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But everyone connected with Saints ultimately went home happy, though the result only pushed the club up to 17th in the Championship table.
Saints: Bazunu; Harwood-Bellis, Wood, Stephens; Fellows (Roerslev, 76 (Quarshie, 87), Downes (Williams, h-t), Jander, Manning; Azaz (Downs, 76), Scienza (Robinson, 65), Armstrong.
Unused subs: McCarthy, Edwards, Aribo, Matsuki.
Booked: Jander, Bazunu.
Sheffield Wednesday: Horvath; Fusire, Palmer (Ugbo, 67), Iorfa, M. Lowe, Amass, Valery, Inglesson, Bannan, McNeill (Lowe, 54), Cadamarteri.
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Unused subs: Stretch, Otegbayo, Johnson, McGhee, Emery, Fernandes, Thornton.
Booked: Bannan, Palmer.
Referee: Reubyn Ricardo.
