Claus Lundekvam helped to keep alive Southampton's slim hopes of qualifying for next season's UEFA Cup with an historic goal against rock-bottom Wolves at Molineux.
The Norwegian international scored his first goal for Southampton - in his 296th appearance - eight years after joining the club from Brann Bergen.
His 58th minute strike effectively sealed what was a comfortable win for Southampton - only their third away from home this season.
England striker James Beattie had fired Southampton ahead with a clinical 24th minute goal in a game that the Saints dominated from start to finish.
Doomed Wolves briefly gave themselves hope when Henri Camara reduced the deficit after 72 minutes.
But two late strikes by the impressive Kevin Phillips ended Wolves' hopes of a revival.
Wolves, who badly needed a win to keep alive their fading hopes of avoiding relegation, only came to life in the final 20 minutes.
But by then the damage had already been done - leaving them in danger of being cut adrift at the foot of the table in their first season back in the top flight after an absence of 16 years.
Southampton boss Paul Sturrock was delighted with his side's success and said after the game: "We started the game well and that set the tone for the whole match.
"The front two, Beattie and Phillips, were superb. When Beattie is in that kind for form he is superb and I would like to think that he has a chance of playing for England this summer.
"Phillips has had a twinkle in his step over the last couple of weeks and he is getting back to the way he used to play for Sunderland. Hopefully we can reap the benefits of that for the rest of the season.
"All the players have responded well to what I have asked of them and to have won three of my first four games in charge is very pleasing." Sturrock also had words of praise for Lundekvam and added: "I always have a go at Claus in training.
"I call him 'The Jersey' as I say that 'it is just a jersey that goes up there not a player.' I am very pleased for him." The only disappointment for Sturrock was that he lost skipper Jason Dodd at the start of the second-half after a rash challenge by Camara.
Sturrock revealed: "It looks like medial ligament damage but we will not know the full extent of the damage for 36 hours.
"I think it was a clumsy rather than a malicious challenge and hopefully it will not mean the end of his season." Wolves boss Dave Jones pulled off a Great Escape to avoid relegation when he was in charge of Southampton five years ago but he faces an almost impossible task to achieve a similar feat at Molineux after this defeat.
But he refuses to accept that his side's fate is terminal and said: We need other results to go for us.
"But while you still have a chance you have to keep going as it could happen.
"We have to stay positive and keep going and go out there fighting and scrapping.
"I was very disappointed with the way we played against Southampton. We gave the game away.
"We never took the game to them and Southampton started the match how I wanted us to.
"I don't think that we had a shot in the first 45 minutes. Nothing came off for us." Jones, who has seen his side concede 14 goals in the last four games, added: "I can't have any complaints over the effort and commitment of the players.
"But some of the decisions that we made were wrong and the players at the back have to be stronger.
"Southampton did play well and their front two did cause us problems.
"They made it very difficult for us and put us under a lot of pressure.
"We needed to make the game 'ugly' and we just did not do that when I thought we had players in the side who could do that." Southampton were frustrated in the opening exchanges by their former goalkeeper Paul Jones.
Jones moved to Molineux in January for £250,000 after losing his first-team place at St Mary's to Antti Niemi.
Twice in the opening eight minutes, Welsh international Jones had to be alert to deny his old team-mate, Phillips.
After just five minutes, he tipped away a cross from Phillips that looked destined for the unmarked Beattie.
Three minutes later, Phillips was again left in acres of space on the right wing and he cut in from the flank and drilled in a near post shot that Jones did well to turn away for a corner.
Wolves, who threatened only briefly in the opening exchanges when Camara saw his 25-yard snap-shot flash wide after 12 minutes, struggled to keep the impressive Phillips and Beattie in check and it was no great surprise when they did fall behind.
They were given another warning of what was to come four minutes before Beattie struck after Rory Delap had seen his shot defected away for a corner by Wolves skipper Paul Ince.
But Southampton's pressure finally paid dividends in the 24th minute although they did have a huge helping hand from the luckless Wolves central defender Jody Craddock.
He failed to cut out a throughball from Fabrice Fernandes and that allowed the alert Beattie to nip in and drill a low shot past Jones from just inside the area.
The goal took his tally for the season to 14 - with three of them coming against Wolves as he had scored both goals in Southampton's 2-0 win at St Mary's last September.
Southampton should have quickly doubled their advantage as Phillips wasted a golden chance a minute later.
He was sent clear by Delap and the former Sunderland marksman only had Jones to beat.
But he failed to hit the target from 12 yards when he blazed over the bar.
Fortunately for Southampton, Lundekvam proved to be more clinical 12 minutes into the second half when he was finally broke his duck.
The lively Fernandes whipped in a left-wing free-kick that was missed by Beattie before being forced home at the far post by a delighted Lundekvam.
Wolves threw caution to the win after his strike and were rewarded 18 minutes from time when Camara struck for the second time in two games with only his third goal of the season.
The Senegal international was picked out by a pass from Mark Kennedy and calmly lobbed the ball over Niemi from 12 yards.
His strike sparked a spell of intense Wolves pressure with Camara forcing Niemi into a smart save 60 seconds after his goal.
But Wolves' comeback hopes were extinguished in the final two minutes by the clinical Phillips.
He collected a pass from Beattie after 88 minutes to fire past Jones before racing past central defender Paul Butler and drilling another low drive into the bottom corner.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Kevin Phillips - His two late goals were just reward for a hard-working and skilful display by the former Sunderland striker.