Southampton 4 - 3 Norwich City

Southampton 4-3 Norwich

Updated: April 30, 2005, 5:37 PM UK

Henri Camara came off the bench to strike a late winner and lift Southampton off the bottom of the Barclays Premiership with a thrilling 4-3 victory over fellow strugglers Norwich at St Mary's.

With both sides in need of a win to boost their chances of beating the drop, it was the Saints who produced the goods when it mattered, having recovered from going behind to an early goal from David Bentley.

• Relieved Redknapp

Harry Redknapp's men now have it all to play for in the final two matches of the season, away at relegation battlers Crystal Palace next week and then at home to Manchester United.

The Canaries - who had been unbeaten in four - must, meanwhile, now hope other results go their way if they are to stay up.

It was the visitors who got off to a flying start when they took the lead inside the opening two minutes.

Leon McKenzie got ahead of Andreas Jakobsson in the left side of the penalty box and looped a pass across goal to the far post, where Bentley arrived to squeeze the ball between Antti Niemi and the woodwork.

Southampton knew only a win here would be good enough to keep their hopes of staying up alive and were soon level.

Nigel Quashie was given the space to run at the retreating Norwich defence, before slipping in Matthew Oakley on the right and he promptly drilled a low, angled drive into the far corner from the edge of the penalty area after six minutes.

It was frantic, end-to-end stuff, with Dean Ashton then latching onto a pass into the Saints box and dispatching a fierce 10-yard drive which had Niemi beaten, but cannoned back off the right-hand post.

In the 15th minute Robert Green was at full stretch to turn away Jamie Redknapp's 25-yard free-kick.

Southampton then turned the match around on 19 minutes when Rory Delap sent in a cross from the right, which fell perfectly for Crouch to nip ahead of Thomas Helveg and sidefoot home from six yards out.

Only a brilliant reaction save from Green denied Crouch a second goal after 25 minutes, the England man beating away the striker's snapshot after the ball had broken to him in the box.

Then from the breakaway, Norwich were level on the half hour. Delap lost possession, allowing Huckerby to scamper away down the left. He took the ball on to the by-line and cut a pass back across goal, where Danny Higginbotham diverted it past his own goalkeeper.

It took a fine reaction save from Niemi to deny Huckerby from close range and then another great one-handed tip over to keep out Bentley's curling 25-yard drive from the resulting corner.

Southampton, though, were back in front seven minutes before the break. A long punt into the Norwich box was knocked down by Crouch and flicked on by Quashie to Le Saux, who brought the ball down beautifully before firing a left-foot effort into the far corner.

Then, in first-half injury time, it was 3-3 when McKenzie stabbed the ball past Niemi after latching onto Ashton's flick from a hopeful pass into the Southampton penalty area.

There were two changes for the home side at the restart, Claus Lundekvam replacing Jakobsson and Paul Telfer coming on for Delap.

Green made a flying stop to keep out Quashie's swerving 20-yard effort, with Crouch then heading over the crossbar from the resulting corner.

In a rare Norwich attack, Huckerby, on the left, sent over a deep cross to the far post, but this time Bentley could only find the side-netting from an acute angle.

Just after the hour, Telfer's deep cross from the right found Phillips in the six-yard box, but the Saints skipper could not keep his header down.

With 18 minutes left, Saints made a final change when Camara replaced Le Saux.

Niemi denied Charlton with a brilliant reaction block at his right-hand post on 80 minutes before Green then kept out Phillips' close-range back-heel.

At the other end, Niemi turned McKenzie's angled drive around the post, before Camara settled this pulsating encounter in Saints' favour with a low 20-yard strike three minutes from time.

Relieved Redknapp

Harry Redknapp was a relieved man after his 'last throw of the dice' saw striker Henri Camara clinch a dramatic late winner as Southampton climbed out of the Premiership relegation zone with a 4-3 win over Norwich at St Mary's.

'It was a last throw of the dice, and was luck, rather than being clever,' reflected the Southampton manager. 'What can you do? You are drawing and you need a win - you have to throw him on, he is a threat, so I stuck him on and it was hit and hope.

'I felt we played some great stuff from midfield onwards, but is our defending, there is a long punt into the box and it is in. How many times have we seen that this year?' said Redknapp.

'It ain't a lot of fun, even though we did score some good goals and play some good football.

'But we kept going and they have done us proud in the end as they have pulled off a great result.

'We are not just hitting long balls, we are playing to our strengths, and that is hitting Crouchy on the diagonal and him knocking balls down in the box for [Kevin] Phillips or Camara to get on the end of. What is wrong with that? It is the hand I have been dealt,' the Southampton boss said.

Despite the Saints now being out of the bottom three, Redknapp maintained: 'It can all change so quickly, that is how it is at the bottom. It is all to play for still and I couldn't tell you what it is going to take to stay up - no-one knows and I wouldn't like to guess, it is so tight.

The Southampton boss added: 'How would we have been if we had gone away from here tonight beaten? We were relegated, finished - but we are still in there scrapping.'

The result could have been different, but for some fine late saves by Saints keeper Antti Niemi - and Norwich boss Nigel Worthington remained positive despite seeing his team slip back to the foot of the table.

'We are not dead yet,' he declared. 'We will keep going right to the death. Don't write us off just yet. We have got two games to go and it becomes clearer now what we have got to do.

'The players have given me their all, and you can't ask for more than that. Today is what football is all about - there was a great atmosphere, and a good edge to it.'