Che Adams came off the bench and scored twice to give Southampton their first victory of the Premier League season over struggling Leicester City.
The Scottish international was named on the bench for the match at the King Power Stadium, but he produced a couple of devastating finishes to earn his side a 2-1 win.
After a quiet first half, James Maddison opened the scoring for the Foxes with a brilliant free-kick but Ralph Hassenhuttl would have been delighted with his side’s response.
Adams pounced following a long throw to draw his side level, before he scored an excellent winner with an expertly taken volley from a James Ward-Prowse cross.
Story of the match
Leicester started the game the better of the two sides but they could only muster a series of half-chances.
Inside two minutes, Jamie Vardy went down in the area when he was challenged by Armel Bella-Kotchap but referee Michael Salisbury rightly waved the appeals away.
Harvey Barnes was looking like the most threatening outlet for the Midlands outfit and his dangerous ball in just evaded Vardy, with Moussa Djenepo able to clear.
In the 14th minute, great work by Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall resulted in him delivering to Ayoze Perez at the back post but the Spaniard could only scuff his volley straight into the ground.
The Saints were really struggling to stamp their authority on the game and their only threatening moment in the first half was when Sekou Mara ran in behind before slotting the ball home, but Jonny Evans had played him offside.
There was a slight scare for the visitors when Gavin Bazunu went down with a possible hamstring problem but fortunately, he was able to continue.
The Southampton goalkeeper was then called straight into action on 38 minutes when he had to push away Maddison’s in-swinging free kick.
Shortly before the break, the dangerous Barnes pounced on a mistake from Romeo Lavia before firing wide with his left foot.
The Foxes did not have too long to wait for the opening goal after halftime, as in the 54th minute, a brilliant Maddison free-kick went around the wall and into the bottom right corner.
Adams then entered the fray as he replaced Mara, hoping to bring his side back into the match.
Joe Aribo had an appeal for a penalty turned down on 61 minutes as his volley struck Timothy Castagne on the arm but VAR turned down the claim.
But then 22 minutes from time, a long throw was hoisted into the box, the ball was flicked on and Adams’ sharp strike found the net, despite James Justin's best efforts on the line.
It was exactly what Hasenhuttl’s side deserved for the way they responded to going a goal behind.
And it got even better for Southampton with six minutes remaining, as Ward-Prowse’s excellent delivery was volleyed home expertly by Adams.
There was even time for the 26-year-old to almost complete a memorable hat-trick but he was denied by the post in added time.
For Brendan Rodgers, it was another frustrating afternoon due to wantaway defender Wesley Fofana trying to seal a move to Chelsea as he was left out of the squad altogether.
Rodgers will be counting down the days until the deadline so he can move on from this summer’s frustrating transfer window and look to climb the table.
Player of the match: Che Adams
Battled through injury all week to be included into the squad and his first goal was a sharply taken effort while his second finished off a beautiful passage of play that put Southampton in front.
