STRIKER Paul Onuachu scored in the final minutes of regulation time to make it 2-1 at Ipswich Town to hand Saints a first league win since November.

Joe Aribo put a Saints side who had been struggling to get into the tie ahead after 21 minutes but they were pegged back by Liam Delap soon after.

The hosts missed a handful of good chances to go ahead themselves but Saints hung in for Onuachu to make it 2-1 in the 87th minute.

Saints had picked up just two points since they beat Everton 1-0 at St Mary's three months ago while Ivan Juric had lost all six games in charge.

There was a blow for Saints as captain Jack Stephens suffered re-injury just 10 minutes into his first appearance of 2025, having been a half-time substitute.

Juric handed starts to debutants Albert Gronbaek and Welington, who were both talked with operating together down the left side of the Saints team.

Aaron Ramsdale represented the only other change to the team after he missed last weekend's clash with Newcastle United with a knock.

Southampton's last Portman Road visit proved consequential, with director of football Jason Wilcox's resignation breaking moments before kick-off.

Then the 3-2 defeat, sealed by a last-minute winner from Brighton loanee Jeremy Sarmiento, all but consigned Saints to the Championship play-offs.

Saints followed Ipswich up anyway but though both could be relegated, Kieran McKenna's side has made a better fist of the Premier League.

They boasted 16 points to Southampton's six at kick-off but both defences were tied as the worst since the turn of 2025, conceding 14 goals each.

Saints made a poor start in front of a lively crowd, chasing shadows in a man-to-man system, hoofing the ball and otherwise playing out of touch.

But it was Saints who took the lead against the run of play as Aribo went clear as the club's league top scorer this season with his third after 21 minutes.

The Nigerian raced Gronbaek to get onto a Mateus Fernandes cross that had been deflected and looped into the middle of the box.

Their lead only lasted 10 minutes though, after summer Saints target Delap skipped past the exposed Jan Bednarek to finish low past Ramsdale.

Ramsdale made a crucial double save on Nathan Broadhead shortly after to keep the scores level at 1-1, scrambling to the second from a tight angle.

Welington might have picked up a first-half card for a bad slide tackle but impressed with his aggressive defending and ambitious wide play.

Skipper Stephens then returned after two months of injury and suspension as a half-time substitute for Taylor Harwood-Bellis.

But his showing lasted just 10 minutes before he was withdrawn after more treatment, with Will Smallbone called on and Armel Bella-Kotchap snubbed.

Supporters were left puzzled as goalscorer Aribo filled in at central defence, although it was he who spurned their next chance in attack too.

Ramsdale made a couple of routine saves to deny Ipswich while Dibling was readied to come on - but Welington's fatigue forced Juric to change tact.

But it did not stifle Saints, who sensationally took the lead in the 87th minute when Onuachu gobbled up a rebounded Kamaldeen Sulemana shot.

It prompted pandemonium in the away end as the celebrating players rushed towards a small section of the fans seated in the bottom tier.

Eight minutes of added time passed without a major event to see Saints pick up their first win under new boss Juric, against a relegation rival.

The victory is Southampton's first on the road in the Premier League and leaves them seven points behind the 19th-placed Tractor Boys.

Ipswich Town: Muric; Tuanzebe, Greaves, O'Shea, Davis (Hirst, 88); Cajuste (Taylor, 77), Morsy, Broadhead (Philogene, 62), Hutchinson, Enciso (Clarke, 88); Delap.

Unused subs: Slicker, Phillips, Johnson, Townsend, Godfrey.

Saints: Ramsdale; Walker-Peters, Bree, Bednarek, Harwood-Bellis (Stephens, h-t (Smallbone, 55); Welington (Sugawara, 80); Ugochukwu (Lallana, 80), Aribo; Fernandes, Gronbaek (Kamaldeen, 69), Onuachu.

Unused subs: McCarthy, Armstrong, Dibling, Bella-Kotchap.

Booked: Welington, Bednarek, Sugawara.

Referee: Michael Oliver.

VAR: Jarred Gillet.