As Saints find themselves tenth in the English Football League Championship, their fortunes and standing 20 years ago were very different.

The date was October 15, 2003, when thousands of fans converged in Romania to see Saints take on Steaua Bucharest in the UEFA Cup.

It was Southampton’s first European adventure for 19 years, but it had already gotten off to a bad start at home.

Claudiu Raducanu scored the only goal seven minutes from time as Steaua progressed to the second round following their 1-1 draw at St Mary’s the month previous.

Saints went into the game knowing they had to score to stay in the cup. They had their chances, three of which were golden opportunities, but they were ultimately left ruing the vital misses.

Daily Echo: SAINTS V STEAUA BUCHAREST SAINTS TEAM dig12182

Steaua were expected to approach the game in a very defensive frame of mind, looking to cling on to a 0-0 but, although that was the scoreline for most of the match, they played fairly neutrally.

But the Romanians took their chance in the 83rd minute when they flew up the pitch and rolled in a low cross for Raducanu to slide in from eight yards.

Daily Echo: SAINTS V STEAUA BUCHAREST FANS PICS

Steaua celebrated wildly but things hadn’t changed for Saints – if they had scored they would still have been in the competition.

Despite missing chances that night, conceding in the first 20 minutes at St Mary’s was what ultimately led to Saints’ downfall.

Check out the gallery above for pictures of the action and the fans.