Daily Echo:

Saints lifted themselves out of the relegation zone with a crucial win over Fulham.

The 2-0 victory was a first home midweek Premier League win for Saints since April 2017 and saw them leapfrog Cardiff to climb out of the bottom three.

First half goals from Oriol Romeu and James Ward-Prowse secured the three points in a match where Saints were the better side without utterly dominating a truly awful Fulham team now seemingly condemned to the drop.

Ralph Hasenhuttl shook things up in his team by recalling Maya Yoshida, Ryan Bertrand and Charlie Austin to the starting line-up and Saints started the game on the front foot, pinning Fulham back and forcing them to defend.

Nathan Redmond was the first to try and convert as he cut on to his right foot and took on a shot from the edge of the area that went well over the bar.

But the early impetus soon faded as Fulham found themselves with possession, albeit in areas that were no great threat.

Charlie Austin had the ball in the empty net on 15 minutes but it was ruled out by referee Roger East after the striker had backed into goalkeeper Sergio Rico to send him to the ground.

As a nervous St Mary’s started to get a little edgy about Saints sitting deep and Fulham having so much of the ball, it was again Redmond who tried to make something happen with a deflected shot from 20 yards that needed Rico to make the save.

The nerves were finally calmed on 23 minutes as Saints took the lead.

Rico came out to meet Ryan Bertrand’s inswinging corner but only punched it to Oriol Romeu. The midfielder hit it first time from just outside of the area with the ball taking a deflection and heading in.

Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg almost doubled the advantage as he drove narrowly wide after Redmond’s lay-off.

While it was 1-0, Fulham were always going to be in with a shout of a goal on the counter attack and they threatened for really the first time as Aleksandar Mitrovic cut back to Frank Anguissa but he couldn’t time his shot and Angus Gunn dived to his right to save.

Mitrovic had an opening himself on 39 minutes as he chested down a ball over the top and hit a half volley from a difficult angle that whistled over the bar.

Saints were not clinging on for long though as they made it 2-0 a minute later.

Rico parried Redmond’s shot from the edge of the area with James Ward-Prowse alert to the possibility of the follow-up to get to the ball first and side foot home.

Mitrovic had half a chance straight from the kick-off at the start of the second period but again put his finish over.

Fulham were certainly giving it a go realising that they had nothing to lose any more with defeat only pushing them nearer to relegation.

Saints tried to capitalise on that by introducing Shane Long for Austin as they aimed to take advantage of Fulham’s attacking ambitions and get quickly in behind on the counter attack.

Despite that it was another corner that nearly provided Saints with a third goal but Havard Nordtveit headed clear from his position stationed on the far post.

After Ward-Prowse had failed to finish on the spin Fulham so nearly pulled one back on 74 minutes as Ryan Babel worked room for a shot in the area and drilled in an effort that rattled the crossbar and bounced away to safety.

Fulham made a couple of attacking substitutions in a bid to find a goal to bring them back into the game and exploit potential Saints nerves.

But the remainder of the game played out in a familiar pattern with Fulham struggling to impose themselves as an attacking threat while Saints looked well drilled and solid.

Only a drive from the edge of the box by Calum Chambers worked Gunn with the full time whistle greeted by huge cheers from the Saints faithful who fully appreciated what a massive result it may prove in the context of their team’s season.