SOUTHAMPTON 1, Wanderers 2: RADHI Jaidi -- the latest gem unearthed by Wanderers' veteran talent spotter Jack Chapman -- lived up to his reputation as a winner with an impressive debut as Wanderers heaped more misery on to the sad Saints.

The 6ft 4ins no-nonsense defender shackled England striker, James Beattie, laying the foundation for a win that put the smile back on the face of a grateful Sam Allardyce and earned a well-deserved pat on the back for one of the most respected but unassuming members of the Reebok backroom staff.

It was Chapman, the 74-year-old chief scout, who recommended Jaidi after watching him play a key role in Tunisia's African Nations Cup triumph in February -- beating Jay-Jay Okocha's Nigeria along the way.

The subsequent report was good enough for Allardyce, who snapped up the 28-year-old on a free -- but not before he had won an eighth league title with Esperance de Tunis.

"Jack saw all the African Nations Cup games and plucked this one out on a free," said the delighted manager as he reflected on Jaidi's performance in a victrory that gave Wanderers their second win in three games and took them to third in the Premiership behind Arsenal and Chelsea.

"We've been worried during pre-season that Radhi didn't have any Premiership experience but I was very happy with his debut. I thought he handled James Beattie superbly, particularly in the air, which was very important for us."

Jaidi got his chance at the expense of Julio Cesar after Allardyce decided to make two changes in the wake of Saturday's

2-0 defeat at Fulham. Kevin Nolan dropped to substitite to allow Stelios to make his first Premiership start since his Euro 2004 triumph with Greece -- just days after being sarcastically referred to as the "Greek God" by the manager, who suggested the shaven-headed midfielder needed to get his feet back on the ground.

Allardyce desperately wanted a reaction from all his players and he got it with Henrik Pedersen and Okocha each taking their individual goal tallies to three inside the first half hour in a team performance that left Southampton looking hopeless as well as managerless following Paul Sturrock's shock departure two days earlier.

Saints fans in the popular end launched a constant volley of abuse at chairman, Rupert Lowe, who is now looking for his seventh manager in six years, while Wanderers turned Steve Wigley's dream of a winning debut as head coach into a nightmare.

Travelling Whites' fans still had to endure a nailbiting finale after Jussi Jaaskelainen dropped a Paul Telfer cross to allow Peter Crouch to pull one back five minutes from time.

And it looked like two points would be squandered in injury time when Nolan was caught napping by Saints' star man Fabrice Fernandes, only for Claus Lundekvam to plant what should have been a match-saving header inches wide of the post.

Justice was done. Southampton might have have felt hard done by when the flag stayed down to give Pedersen the chance to celebrate his international recall with the opening goal on seven minutes.

The Dane admitted he thought he was offside -- both he and Kevin Davies were yards behind the Saints back line when Nicky Hunt's cross dropped in -- and even Allardyce was not sure.

But there was no denying referee Steve Dunn got it right when he awarded a penalty when Danny Higginbottom sent Stelios crashing to the ground, allowing Okocha to double the lead. Nor was there any question that Wanderers were comfortably the better side and deserving of their win.

Defensively they were more solid than at Fulham and, although not as creative or fluent as they were in their opening day thrashing of Charlton, they had chances to have won more comfortably.

Okocha worked as hard as anyone in what was an industrious all-round team performance, yet he still managed to entertain with selections from his skills repertoire, which were appreciated by both sets of fans.

Southampton may be a club in crisis but that did not diminish the joy Allardyce expressed at the end when he declared: "I'm absolutely delighted.

"I looked for a response from my players after Saturday's performance and I got it.

"The players were bored for a couple of days because we stayed down after the Fulham game but I reminded them why we were spending so much time together.

"We all wanted to get back home but the rest they had gave them the energy to control the game, skilfully and tactically, apart from that bad mistake by Jussi that let them back into it.

"We gave a silly chance away right at the death when we switched off but that would have been harsh justice on us after the way we played. We opened them up time and again."