AT a time when enlightened individuals are advocating a winter’s break from the sea of relentless league fixtures, some managers dislike even the inactivity of the past fortnight in the domestic programme.

George Burley, for one. Having watched Southampton getting thumped 5-0 by Sheffield Wednesday two weeks ago, he felt only frustration at not being able to rectify that straight away.

Until yesterday, that was. Southampton continued to be short of goals, but Stern John, scoring for the fifth time after the deal in which Kenwyne Jones went to Sunderland, gave the club a necessary victory.

Still, this was a scratchy performance - Blackpool had just as many chances - and it is hard to imagine Southampton challenging for the higher status their stadium merits.

Blackpool had a great opportunity to equalise early in the second half, but Gary Taylor-Fletcher’s shot across Kelvin Davis brought a parried save.

This suggested they merited a goal, yet it was Southampton who forged the better openings: John, taking the ball on his chest, volleyed against the crossbar, then Jason Euell created, and missed, a penalty.

Euell, bustling down the middle, was brought down by at least two, possibly three defenders, Kaspars Gorkss among them. He picked himself up and, in the absence of Grzegorz Rasiak, the normal penalty-taker, grabbed the ball himself. Alas for him, he struck the kick too close to Paul Rachubka, who saved to his right with ease.

Morrell did head past Davis in the second-half, but referee Ian Williamson had already given a free kick to Blackpool.

Southampton just about kept them at bay after that, although their retention of the ball, particularly when coming out of defence, was inadequate.

“I can promise you we are working harder than ever on the training ground every day, and if we can find the consistency that has eluded us so far this season, anything is possible,” said Burley. “This league is still so tight, a run of wins can change everything around very quickly.”

St Mary’s is by and large a docile stadium, unless of course, Portsmouth are visiting. This may or may not have something to do with Southampton being mired in mid-Championship table nowadays.

The most barnstorming moment in the first half, though, other than when John scored, occurred off the pitch.

Police and stewards confiscated the drums which Blackpool’s supporters had been banging for a good 25 minutes.

If this was less irritating than the noise, the atmosphere was inevitably affected as well. All of which would not have mattered had there been more action on the pitch.

Southampton had not scored throughout their previous three matches, so a loss of self-belief was apparent in their game.

Before they took the lead, they had just one chance of note, when Bradley Wright-Phillips, receiving from Nathan Dyer, had a drive deflected wide. So when Southampton did go ahead, they could hardly be said to be worthy of a lead.

John, whose supporters and detractors can be numbered in equal measure – he is keeping Rasiak out of the team – collected the ball from an Andrew Surman/Wright-Phillips move, and dropping his shoulder, angled his shot across Rachubka into the right corner of the net.

Never forget, he might well have been telling himself, that he had scored against a former Manchester United goalkeeper.

As for Blackpool, who gave a debut to Bartosz Slusarski, they almost capitalised on the raw pace of Andy Welsh. Flicking the ball past Southampton’s central defenders with his right heel, he ran on to it, went round Davis, but lacked the ideal angle to shoot.

The ball was cleared to safety without difficulty.

Star man: John (Southampton)

Southampton: Davis 6, Ifil 6, Davies 6, Dailly 6, Skacel 6, Dyer 6 (HJammill 84min, 5), Surman 6, Safri 6, Euell 6 (Viafara 65min, 5), Wright-Phillips 6, John 7

Blackpool: Rachubka 6, Coid 6, McMahon 5 (Crainey 14min, 6), Gorkss 6, Barker 6, Taylor-Fletcher 6, Southern 6, Jorgensen 6 (Fox 68min, 5), Welsh 6 (Hoolahan 58min, 5), Morrell 6, Slusarski 6