Southampton's fragile state was exposed by their position at the foot of the league, and a clinical performance at Elland Road saw Leeds move to the head of the Premiership field for the first time since August 1995.

George Graham's squad had shown their mettle by emerging unbeaten from their first three matches against Middlesbrough, Blackburn Rovers and Wimbledon, while Southampton's loss at Elland Road was Saints' fourth in a sequence of five straight defeats.

It took a dramatic revival in the final weeks of the season to rescue Southampton from relegation.

The killer blow at Elland Road was struck by 21-year-old Irishman Ian Harte, who produced a lethal left-foot finish on 52 minutes with United leading 1-0 and the game in the balance.

Harte collected the ball from a cleverly-worked free-kick and curled a controlled strike beyond the reach of Southampton goalkeeper Neil Moss, who would pick the ball from his net once more before his frustrating afternoon was over.

A 2-0 advantage provided all the security Leeds required, and Graham was relieved by his side's improvement after an uninspired first-half display.

"In the first half we were poor," the Scot admitted. "We played far too deep as a unit.

"We were playing at home against a side at the bottom of the league and we should have pressed forward more and imposed ourselves. But we played well in the second half."

Leeds snatched the lead seven minutes before half-time when Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink's shot struck Southampton defender Scott Marshall and the ball deflected into the visitors' net, but United rode their luck on several occasions.

Lucas Radebe was slightly fortunate to escape a strong penalty appeal after bringing down Phil Warner inside the box with two minutes gone, and Nigel Martyn's point-blank save prevented Mark Hughes from opening the scoring.

Clyde Wijnhard saw a goal disallowed for an innocuous foul, however, and it seemed likely that Leeds would impose themselves with more authority once Marshall's own goal increased the pressure on Southampton.

Wijnhard ensured his name made the scoresheet when he ran onto substitute David Wetherall's knock-down and fizzed a shot into the roof of the net with four minutes to go, rounding off a victory that left the crowd at Elland Road buzzing with anticipation and allowed Graham to look down from top of the Premiership for the first time since he replaced Howard Wilkinson as United's manager.

"For half-an-hour I thought we competed," said Southampton manager Dave Jones.

"It could have gone either way, but the deflection killed us. You have to make your own luck and Leeds made theirs. We didn't."

United: Martyn, Hiden, Molenaar (Wetherall 75), Radebe, Harte, Hopkin, Bowyer, Haaland, Kewell, Hasselbaink, Wijnhard (Ribeiro 89). Subs not used: Sharpe, Halle, Beeney.