Southampton are on course to end Stoke City's unbeaten Premier League home record after entering the break with a surprise 3-1 half-time advantage at the Britannia Stadium.
Prior to this afternoon, Stoke had conceded just four goals on home soil but the Potters defence was unusually leaky in the first period.
Ricky Lambert's eighth goal of the season got Southampton up and running. He converted with a smart back-post volley following good work from Guly do Prado.
After earlier missing from six yards, Kenwyne Jones levelled the scores when he cleverly back-heeled Ryan Shotton's low cross past Kelvin Davis.
However, Stoke's parity lasted only eight minutes as Jay Rodriguez poked the Saints back ahead from close range after Robert Huth's attempted clearance came back off the crossbar.
A bright start was to get even better for Nigel Adkins' side when Andy Wilkinson turned Lambert's cross into his own net nine minutes prior to the interval.
