Young starlet Lee Martin, on loan from Manchester United, capped off an all-star display with a goal to keep the play-off push alive and halt the Potters' Britannia Stadium plight.
The out-of-sorts hosts haven't won on home turf in 2007 and a lack of form has seen their grip on a play-off place slip until Martin's second-half-strike got the Potters pumping.
Tony Pulis gave City new-boy Jon Parkin the nod after completing the loan signing of the man nicknamed 'The Beast' on Friday to bolster an increasingly goal-shy strike-force.
But despite the incoming artillery the hosts were left rueing wasted openings in the first ten minutes when Marek Saganowski pounced six minutes later.
The Potters might have claimed an early lead had there been a more clinical boot lurking around the goalmouth - instead Darel Russell flashed wide twice in quick succession.
But a composed presence around goal is something the free-scoring Saints are not short of and they'd soon plundered their 31st away goal of the season via Steve Simonsen's blunder.
The City stopper's usually safe hands couldn't hold a blistering drive from Chris Baird and Saganowski was on hand to slot in his third goal in his last four outings.
After being pinned back for much of the preceding action, City rallied towards the latter stages of the first half and, with their tails up, parity was restored before the break.
Martin fired the warning shot prompting Kelvin Davis' acrobatics to somehow paw the winger's cross-shot over the bar- but with the momentum came the equaliser.
Jonathan Fortune became the grateful beneficiary of Southampton's lax marking when he arrived without escort on the 34th minute to turn in Liam Lawrence's corner at the back post.
And it was the hosts who were the more likely to take the lead - Danny Higginbotham was unfortunate to not get one up on his former employers by heading into the side-netting.
But with a glut of endeavour came the advantage when a wonderfully crafted approach was finished with a Premiership touch.
The on-loan Red Devil Martin showed all the pedigree of his parent club when he broke free to slam Salif Diao's throughball past the helpless Saints stopper.
The home side clung on in a nerve-shredding four minutes of stoppage time with Saganowski testing their resolve with a late header which could have easily wrong-footed Simonsen.