A first-half brace from summer signing Graziano Pelle has given Southampton a comfortable 2-0 half-time lead over visiting Newcastle United in the Premier League this afternoon.
The hosts made the brightest of starts and they soon took the lead after only six minutes when Ryan Bertrand broke forward to deliver a pin-point cross for striker Pelle, who made no mistake with a classy header past a helpless Tim Krul.
Saints might have found themselves two goals to the good only a few minutes later, with Pelle in the thick of the action again, but Krul did well to get down low to deny his long-range effort.
Newcastle looked shaky at the back and a confident Southampton side soon made them pay again, this time as Pelle combined with Dusan Tadic to get the ball back from a one-two and slot low past Krul.
Southampton keeper Fraser Forster made some way towards paying back his large transfer fee for the hosts when he pulled off two saves to deny Moussa Sissoko and Jack Colback, leaving the score at 2-0 going into the interval.
