Southampton 2 Leicester City 0: Prutton walks on water but Leicester are stuck in mud

Should a game that was pushed back by 45 minutes for torrential rain have been played at all? The Leicester manager, Rob Kelly, refused to use it as an excuse, although it was hard not to see some link between the delay and his side's insipid display. Most neutrals would also probably have been quite happy to skip the ugly, one-sided mudbath that ensued, but Southampton probably enjoyed it - nobody more than David Prutton.

A persistent ankle injury has meant that the midfielder has played just three times since the end of last January - and, curiously, that three of his last four games have been against Leicester - but given his chance by an injury to Nathan Dyer, he seized it, scoring the decisive second.

"They're a bunch of ugly so and sos, so it will be nice to play against somebody else," Prutton said about the visitors, and, with Dyer suffering a suspected fractured ankle, he should get that opportunity, starting this afternoon at Plymouth.

"It's been a pain in the arse with all the different parts of the injury," Prutton added. "It took longer than expected, but it feels better than it has done for years which is encouraging so it's just a case of how many games I can get. Watching is not my greatest hobby."

He must nonetheless have enjoyed Southampton's opener, and appreciated Dyer's role in it, creating an opening on the right for Alexander Ostlund to cross. Pedro Pele's header might not have had quite the purity of his namesake's in the 1970 World Cup final, but it was still well-directed enough to beat Paul Henderson.

Only a handful of fine saves from Henderson kept the score down thereafter, but, eight minutes into the second half, the impressive Bradley Wright-Phillips created room on the left, and although the keeper parried Prutton's initial header, the ball cannoned back into him and over the line.

"It came back quickly and I just got my knee on it," Prutton said. "It was a bit fortunate to be honest." After 11 frustrating months, he probably deserved it.

Goals: Pele (9) 1-0; Prutton (53) 2-0.

Southampton (4-4-2): Davis; Ostlund, Baird, Lundekvam, Bale; Dyer (Prutton, 39), Wright, Pele, Skacel (Viafara, 85); Wright-Phillips, Rasiak (McGoldrick, 90). Substitutes not used: Bialkowski (gk), Licka.

Leicester City (4-4-2): Henderson; Maybury, McAuley, Kisnorbo, Johansson (Stearman, 61); Hughes, Williams, Tiatto (Fryatt, 56), Porter; Hume (McCarthy, 75), Hammond. Substitutes not used: Logan (gk), Wesolowski.

Referee: P Crossley (Kent).

Booked: Leicester Stearman.

Man of the match: Wright-Phillips.

Attendance: 24,447.