Marcus Tudgay struck late on to deny Southampton what would have been a deserved win over Sheff Wed.
Owls leave it late at St Mary's
Marcus Tudgay struck late on to deny Southampton what would have been a deserved win over Sheffield Wednesday.
Bradley Wright-Phillips opened the scoring early on, but they failed to double their advantage and were made to pay late on by losing two points.
Southampton started with positive intent and midfielder Andrew Surman flashed a left-foot drive wide of the target.
But the home side were in front after 13 minutes when Wednesday backed off and were made to pay by Wright-Phillips, who drilled a right-footed finish past the helpless Lee Grant from the edge of the penalty area.
Former Manchester City striker Wright-Phillips had an opportunity to double his tally seven minutes later but shot straight at Grant.
Kicked into life
Wednesday finally kicked into life and Dutch winger Etienne Esajas had an opportunity to restore parity, but failed to hit the target with a left-footed strike from 20 yards out.
But David McGoldrick could have given Southampton some breathing space five minutes before the break when he headed wide from just six yards out.
Wright-Phillips was a constant menace to the Wednesday defence and it took a fine block from Richard Wood to deflect a right-footed strike from the diminutive striker wide of the target.
Veteran Southampton defender Chris Perry also produced a crucial block to deny Leon Clarke at the other end.
Tudgay tried his luck from just outside the penalty area, but Saints defender Rudi Skacel got himself in the way of the former Derby forward's strike.
More question
Wednesday started to ask more questions of the Southampton defence and following a corner from the left the ball sat up nicely for James O'Connor, but the former Burnley man drilled his shot wide of the target.
With 15 minutes remaining Southampton should have put Wednesday out of sight but Matthew Paterson failed to hit the target from just six yards out.
And they were made to pay when the ball fell to Tudgay 20 yards from goal and he rattled a right-footed strike into the bottom corner of the net.
Substitute Bartosz Slusarski almost won it for the visitors right at the death when his shot was tipped wide by Kelvin Davis.
