Southampton put their recent struggles on the pitch to one side as they claimed their first win of 2016 with a well-deserved victory over a disappointing Watford side.
Shane Long headed in Matt Targett's pinpoint cross early in the game as the Saints dominated proceedings throughout, before Steven Davis had a well-taken goal somewhat dubiously ruled out for offside.
However, Davis turned provider soon after as he laid the ball off for Dusan Tadic to put the game to bed, with the travelling Hornets not registering a shot on target until the final five minutes of normal time.
Injured pair return for Southampton
Southampton boss Ronald Koeman was further buoyed by the return to first-team action of goalkeeper Fraser Forster, while target man Graziano Pelle came off the bench after a short spell out of action with a knee injury.
The match started off in relatively quiet fashion but it was the hosts who set the tone for the game with the first few attacks of note, as Sadio Mane misplaced an attempted cut-back to Oriol Romeu, before Romeu skied an effort harmlessly over the bar moments later.
Long hits the target to open scoring
Watford went on the attack with a quarter of an hour played but Allan Nyom's delivery into the area was wayward, before Targett showed him how it should be done with a delicious cross.
The young left-back's delivery was inch-perfect and Long was on hand to plant his header past Heurelho Gomes from the centre of the area and into the back of the net.
With the first period drawing to a close, Mane missed a gilt-edged opportunity to double Saints' advantage as he seized upon Jose Manuel Jurado's loose pass and burst through on goal but placed his shot fractionally wide.
Second half starts slowly
The second half began in a similarly slow fashion to the first in the increasingly heavy rain which was pounding St Mary's, but with just over 20 minutes to play Davis was denied a goal only by the linesman's flag.
He latched on to a long ball forward and drilled the ball emphatically home, but was pulled back by the referee despite appearing around level.
However, Saints fans didn't have long to wait as substitute Tadic came off the bench to score with practically his first touch of the ball. Davis nodded on a long ball to the Serbian, who knocked the ball past two defenders before drilling a shot home off the glove of the despairing Gomes.
Forster ensures Saints look to the top half
Pelle came on with five minutes to play before Forster was forced into his first real save of the game, a reasonably routine stop to deny Craig Cathcart finding the bottom corner.
The result sees Southampton climb the table up to 12th, now just two points off the top half of the Premier League with Watford currently occupying 10th place.