Southampton registered their first away victory in seven attempts as they extended Stoke City's own winless Championship run to four games.

Finn Azaz turned home from close range as the visitors edged ahead inside the opening 10 minutes.

Flynn Downes doubled their lead after the break as Saints took control, flicking in a fortuitous effort at the far post following a corner.

The win, only Southampton's second out of their past 10 Championship games, moves them to within two points of Stoke, who are directly above them in 11th place in the Championship.

In a frantic opening few minutes, Leo Scienza had two efforts on goal blocked by Stoke, the latter of which saw Ashley Phillips put in an impressive last-ditch challenge to deny him.

Southampton's energetic start was rewarded soon after when Taylor Harwood-Bellis delivered a superb long-range pass from his own half into the path of Tom Fellows on the right.

Fellows duly whipped the ball in to the onrushing Azaz, who made no mistake as he tucked in from close range.

Stoke did not sit back, however, and almost struck back when Bae Jun-ho's drive from outside the box drew an excellent one-handed save from Saints keeper Daniel Peretz.

Jun-ho could then have nudged Stoke level when Peretz parried a cross into his path, but the South Korea international sliced his effort wide from the middle of the box moments before the half-time whistle was blown.

Despite Stoke's good work in the latter stages of the opening half, it was Saints who struck after the break. Downes went to ground following a corner, but he reacted quickly to tap in the loose ball.

Stoke struggled to gain a foothold for the remainder of the game because of a resolute Saints performance, which secured a valuable victory to take them into the top half of the table.

Stoke City boss Mark Robins told BBC Radio Stoke:

"When you come up against a really technical team who are really well fancied, they were on their game today and we weren't.

"We gave them a cheap first goal but when we got pinned back, we allowed them to do that. We have to learn from that.

"We came up against really good opponents that exploited some of our players playing out of position but we've got to be brave and show the determination that our supporters want us to show, to get into their faces and win tackles.

"They didn't have to do a great deal to win that game, they found it really easy and that was the most disappointing thing for us. [But] that is where we're at."

Southampton boss Tonda Eckert told BBC Radio Solent:

"It's a tough ground to come to. It's not an easy place to play. We knew how important this was and we've been working for so long to earn more clean sheets.

"I think you can see that we are moving forward. Today the dead ball situations were on our side and that's what makes a difference in the end.

"I definitely think we're going in the right direction first and foremost. Obviously there are many more games to play.

"You know how quick things change in both directions. We need to take the positive from the last game to make sure we continue, especially with the home games coming up."