Wolves' promotion hopes suffered a devastating blow as they were thrashed 6-0 by a makeshift Southampton side at Molineux.

The Saints, who were missing Gareth Bale, Chris Baird, Claus Lundekvam, Grzegorz Rasiak, Kenwyne Jones, Djamel Belmadi, Jhon Viafara and first-choice goalkeeper Kelvin Davis, saw striker Marek Saganowski open the scoring with his fifth goal since arriving on loan from Troyes.

Wolves centre-half Gary Breen added an own goal before Saganowski's inspired chip put the visitors 3-0 up and Wanderers winger Michael Kightly had a penalty saved before half-time.

And when Leon Best added a fourth for the visitors early in the second half, the game was ended as a meaningful contest though Andy Surman claimed a fifth and Saganowski completed his hat-trick late on.

Wolves remain in the top six but it remains to be seen if Mick McCarthy can rally his troops after this humiliating defeat against a team desperate to get back into the promotion picture.

The visitors had taken the lead against the run of play in the 24th minute when Surman crossed from the right wing to the back post where Saganowski headed his fifth goal for Southampton.

Wolves found themselves 2-0 down in the 27th minute when Rudi Skacel brushed past right-back Rob Edwards before passing into the six-yard box where Breen tapped into his own goal.

Saints goalkeeper Bartosz Bialkowski saved a point-blank header from Andy Keogh but Saganowski turned in the right channel to loop a classy finish over Matt Murray and put Saints 3-0 up in the 36th minute.

With five minutes to the break, Keogh hit the bar with a header from Michael McIndoe's cross.

In the 45th minute, referee Graham Salisbury adjudged Chris Makin to have handled Kightly's flick inches inside the penalty box. But from the resulting spot-kick, Bialkowski dived to his left to save Kightly's sidefooted penalty.

Both sides ran out unchanged for the start of the second half which opened in earnest with Rudi Skacel again breaking clear along the Southampton left but blazing high over Murray's crossbar.

Saints boss George Burley made his first change in the 53rd minute, when Nathan Dyer replaced Skacel and two minutes later the south coast club were celebrating again as Leon Best took advantage of chaos in the Wolves box to ram home a rebound after Murray had saved the initial effort.

A double substitution by Wolves saw striker Jay Bothroyd swapped for Edwards and Jody Craddock for Jamie Clapham in the 59th minute.

And Craig Davies replaced Stephen Ward in the 65th minute, although it was Bothroyd who found himself stretching in vain to meet Kightly's cross from the right midway through the second period.

Kightly was denied by Bialkowski's double save ahead of Saints substitute Dyer being replaced by the 75th minute by Bradley Wright-Phillips.

In the 79th minute an unmarked Surman claimed Saints' fifth goal when he met Jermaine Wright's cross from the left with a powerful half-volley before Best was replaced by Mario Licka with less than 10 minutes remaining, moments before a shellshocked Wolves defence backed off and invited Saganowski to crash home his third and Saints' sixth in the 84th minute.

Teams:

Wolverhampton Murray, Edwards (Bothroyd 59), Neill Collins,Breen, Clapham (Craddock 59), McIndoe, Olofinjana, Potter,Kightly, Ward (Craig Davies 65), Keogh.

Subs Not Used: Budtz, Gleeson.

Booked: Potter.

Southampton Bialkowski, Ostlund, Pele, Powell, Makin, Surman,Wright, Guthrie, Skacel (Dyer 53), Saganowski, Best (Licka 82),Dyer (Wright-Phillips 75).

Subs Not Used: Kevin Miller, Cranie.

Goals: Saganowski 24, Breen 27 og, Saganowski 36, Best 55,

Surman 79, Saganowski 83.

Att: 24,804

Ref: G Salisbury (Lancashire).