Fabrice Fernandes' thunderbolt and Kevin Davies' lucky tap-in upstaged Paolo di Canio as Southampton clinched a 2-0 success against West Ham in the proverbial game of two halves at the packed St Mary's Stadium.

A new Saints record crowd of 31,879 - 21 more than for the 3-1 defeat by Manchester United earlier this month - endured an incredibly dull first period, which only livened up just before the interval when David James flapped at a free-kick and the ball bounced into his net via Davies' stomach.

The second 45 was thankfully far more entertaining, with Fernandes' first goal for the club since his £1.2million switch from Rennes a month ago - a blistering 63rd-minute free-kick - almost ripping the net.

Di Canio started for West Ham after the collapse of his £3.5million transfer tug-of-war with Manchester United. The gifted Italian striker seems destined to stay at Upton Park after United forward Dwight Yorke's move to Middlesbrough, which would have created space for di Canio at Old Trafford, fell through after Boro could not match his wage demands.

Slovakian Vladimir Labant made his full Hammers debut in defence, while for the injury-hit home side, former England international Matt Le Tissier, who yesterday hinted he could retire at the end of the season, was on the substitutes' bench and made a brief late appearance.

The first 30 minutes of this match would have shamed Division Three. Fans at both ends of the packed ground grew increasingly frustrated at the constant loss of possession by players on either side - with the opening of this game unfortunately a prime candidate for the most boring period of play of the Barclaycard Premiership season so far.

West Ham's Frederic Kanoute fired high and wide, Joe Cole's drilled strike was off-target and Di Canio squeezed into a yard of space on the right wing to deliver a teasing cross for Kanoute to rise highest and loop a header over Paul Jones' crossbar in the 27th minute.

A moment of magic from di Canio almost led to the opening goal just after the half-hour mark. The forward jinked into the Saints penalty area and set up Cole with a brilliant backheel - but when the midfielder shot, Jones made a great save with his legs.

However, the home keeper was close to a real howler at the interval approached. He misjudged Don Hutchison's powerful strike and almost palmed the ball into his own net, before gathering at the second attempt.

But it was the home side who took the lead after a blunder by Hammers keeper James in the 43rd minute. He flapped at a Fernandes free-kick from the left and the ball luckily hit Davies' midrift and bounced into the net for a really soft goal.

Thankfully, the second period was totally different to the mundane first 45. First, centre-back Paul Williams brought a scrambled save from James with a firm side-foot effort, then Davies flashed a header from the resulting Fernandes corner across the face of goal - and Matt Oakley forced James to make a fine diving save.

It was not all one-way traffic though, with Cole firing wide for the Hammers and Jones smothering a Hutchison thunderbolt as the game livened up.

This improving match absolutely exploded in the 63rd minute with a thunderous free-kick from Fernandes that almost ripped the West Ham net and put the Saints 2-0 up.

Hammers centre-back Tomas Repka needlessly fouled Anders Svensson 20 yards from goal and Fernandes stepped up to blast a left-foot strike through the feeble defensive wall and into the top left corner of James' net, via the underside of his crossbar.

It was the French winger's first goal since his £1.2million switch from Rennes a month ago - and a display of what Fulham fans could have been admiring had on-loan Fernandes not fallen out with Cottagers manager Jean Tigana last season.

Kanoute almost pulled one back with 13 minutes left, but his close-range header deflected narrowly wide. The Frenchman also wasted a great late chance when he blasted over from just inside the box.

Teams:

Southampton: Jones, Dodd, Bridge, Lundekvam, Williams, Telfer, Fernandes (Bleidelis 90), Svensson, Oakley (Tessem 80), Davies (Le Tissier 82), Pahars.

Subs Not Used: Moss, Monk.

Goals: Davies 43, Fernandes 66.

West Ham: James, Schemmel, Labant, Repka, Dailly, Lomas, Cole, Hutchison (Defoe 66), Carrick (Moncur 45), Di Canio, Kanoute.

Subs Not Used: Hislop, Winterburn, Garcia.

Booked: Repka, Hutchison, Moncur.

Att: 31,879

Ref: P Dowd (Stoke-on-Trent).