On Sunday they became the earliest ever relegated side from the English Football League with defeat at bitter rivals Sheffield United and in midweek a proposed takeover fell through..

Saints were out of the traps early, Bree opening the scoring with his third goal in four games.

The right-back poked home from seven yards out after a corner, initially cleared, was recycled at the second attempt by Leo Scienza.

His left-sided counterpart, Manning, added a second from a free-kick in stoppage time at the end of the first half after Liam Palmer had upended Kuryu Matsuki on the right corner of the box.

Manning’s left-foot hit, whilst well hit inside the near post, should have probably been stopped by the wall.

Yates headed a bit of hope into proceedings after Saints failed to clear their lines from a corner on 57 minutes, finishing off a sequence of headers from seven yards out.

But Saints put the game and the points to bed a quarter of an hour later with Harwood-Bellis replicating Bree’s earlier effort from an uncleared corner on 71 minutes.

From there to the final whistle Southampton weathered a spirited finish from Wednesday, Ingelsson seeing a shot blocked and Palmer forcing a fine save from Daniel Peretz in the final few seconds.