SUBSTITUTE Che Adams gave manager Russell Martin a well-deserved 2-1 victory in his first game as boss with an 87th-minute winner at Sheffield Wednesday.

Adam Armstrong was credited with an early opener after a Nathan Tella strike hit him on the way in before Lee Gregory pulled the Owls level in the second half at Hillsborough.

Martin’s side continued to dominate the ball and had maintained at least 77 per cent possession by the time Adams finished his first chance from close range in front of a bouncing away end.

Saints visited Hillsborough winless in their last nine opening-day fixtures but all of those were in the Premier League – this was the start of a new era.

A summer of turmoil equalised clubs in opposite form – Sheffield Wednesday’s 96 points was the most of any EFL team to not get automatically promoted, while Saints were bottom of their division.

Martin was facing Wednesday for first time as a boss, with the Owls also under a new manager. Although Martin is five years younger than Xisco Munoz, he had already managed 87 more games.

Nigel Adkins got his first victory in the Saints hot seat with a 1-0 win at Hillsborough in September 2010, going on to secure back-to-back promotions from League One to the top flight.

Martin did name captain James Ward-Prowse in his starting XI but Romeo Lavia was left on the bench with academy graduate Will Smallbone preferred – the rest of the team was mostly as predicted.

Saints survived some desperate early defending as they got to grips with the Hillsborough atmosphere – wide shots were blocked back into play and Charly Alcaraz went rightly unpunished for a collision in the penalty box.

However, Saints had their first goal of the Martin era and only had to wait eight minutes for it - Tella received from Kyle Walker-Peters on the edge of the area and hit a left-footed curler to the far post.

That prompted joyous chants of ‘We are top of the league’ and ‘Nathan Tella, baby’ from over 3,000 Southampton supporters in the away end.

However, upon study of the goal – Tella’s strike brushed Armstrong’s head as he ran across goal and attempted to get out of the way, meaning an eighth goal in his last four Championship matches.

Stephens then saw a shot in a box scramble blocked by Callum Paterson off the goalline, just before the fourth official signalled for a mammoth six minutes of added time.

That was due to an EFL regulation change which involves stopping the referee’s watch dead during certain actions and adding it on in totality, increasing the total ball-in-play time for any given match.

Wednesday did not need to go all the way to added time for their equaliser, though, Gregory powering in from a knocked down corner after losing marker Walker-Peters just 10 minutes into the half – Ward-Prowse appeared to be bundled over in the play before, adding insult to injury.

Martin made his first change with just over 15 minutes of regulation time to play, as the ineffective Charly Alcaraz made way for the returning Stuart Armstrong.

Armstrong looked lively and his namesake was soon replaced, with Adams coming off the bench – who sent the away end into raptures with a late winner.

Adams turned in a simple finish after Walker-Peters’ slip to Ward-Prowse saw the skipper put on a plate for the Scottish international inside the six-yard box.

Saints came through nine minutes of added time under pressure from the home support to secure a vital first three points in their first match of the season. 

Saints: Bazunu; Walker-Peters, Bednarek, Stephens, Manning; Smallbone, Ward-Prowse, Alcaraz (S Armstrong, 73); Tella, Edozie (Aribo, 89), A Armstrong (Adams, 79).

Unused subs: McCarthy, Lyanco, Charles, Djenepo, Lavia, Amo-Ameyaw.

Booked: A Armstrong, Manning, Tella, Stephens.

Wednesday: Dawson, Paterson, Iorfa, Ihiekwe, Famewo, Delgado (Fletcher, 77), Bakinson, Vaulks (Palmer, 77), Bannan, Windass (James, 85), Gregory (Musaba, 67).

Unused subs: Charles, Valentin, Bernard, Wilks, Smith.

Booked: Gregory, Paterson, Delgado, Dawson.

Referee: Bobby Madley.