Centre-half Jan-Paul Saeijs hit a sensational last-minute equaliser as Saints claimed a vital point at Watford in their fight against relegation from the Coca-Cola Championship.

The Dutchman headed Saints ahead early on but goals in either half from Aleksandrs Cauna and Tamas Priskin looked to have sent his side closer to the drop.

But Saeijs then stepped up from 25 yards and hammered a fabulous free-kick over the wall and into the top corner to end a turbulent day for the south coast club on a high.

Confusion lingers over the club's immediate fate after the Football League called for an independent report into their financial position this afternoon, but Saints remain confident of avoiding the seemingly mandatory 10-point deduction for entering administration.

However, unless manager Mark Wotte can inspire his young side to a remarkable turnaround in fortunes, any penalty could prove academic for the club's survival chances this season.

Saints are still two points adrift of safety with five games left.

The visitors' need of points was apparent in their bold 4-2-4 formation and they had the first sniff of goal in a sterile opening when Chris Perry's flick from a corner was well cleared away from the lurking Jason Euell.

That scare was not observed by the Hornets and Wotte's side took the lead in the 13th minute. Ryan Smith swung over the corner from the right and Saeijs was left all alone to head down and into the net from six yards.

Watford had not got going but rallied after the goal and equalised in the 21st minute through Cauna.

The Latvian had barely touched the ball on his full debut but after Lloyd Doyley's quick throw was controlled by Priskin he received the ball on the left of the area and arrowed a powerful strike through Kelvin Davis.

The goalkeeper saved a penalty in the 3-2 defeat to Charlton on Saturday but should have done much better at his near post.

Wotte turned to Polish substitute Marek Saganowski on the hour in a bid to fashion a winner and with his first touch he sent Euell clear of the defence but the gangly striker produced a horrible shot which hardly reached Scott Loach in the Watford net.

It was an awful effort and within 60 seconds Priskin had the hosts ahead.

Jobi McAnuff delivered a corner to the near post for ex-Saints loanee Jack Cork to head on and the unmarked Priskin rose to thunder a header past Davis from eight yards for his 13th goal of the season.

There were 24 minutes remaining for Wotte's men to salvage a point and with the seconds ticking down the hulking figure of Saeijs lined up a free-kick at least 25 yards from goal.

Andrew Surman appeared the more probable candidate but Saeijs calmly strode forward and smacked a thunderous shot past Loach and into the corner for his second of the night.