JUST AS FATHER CHRISTMAS would struggle to deliver all his gifts without his reindeers, so Harry Kewell seems to require Mark Viduka in order to produce his best offerings. The main man needs someone to shoulder the workload, put in the miles and set him up for the starring role.

Leeds United were on course for a sixth successive home defeat in the Premiership, outplayed by a sprightly Southampton side, as Kewell and Robbie Fowler, still short of match fitness, floundered. Then Viduka, returning from a shoulder injury, came on to play the target man. Kewell dropped off, Leeds stepped up the pace and were within a minute of recording their first league win at Elland Road in three months.

It was Kewell, revelling in the space created by the advent of his Australian cohort, who suddenly provided Leeds with a goal threat. After four fine efforts were repelled, one rebounding off Wayne Bridge and on to a post, Kewell drilled in his ninth goal of the season when Jonathan Woodgate’ s header rebounded from the woodwork.

Eight of Kewell’s finishes have arrived when Viduka, who has started just over half of Leeds’s games this term, has been on the field. “Viduka held the ball up very well,” Eddie Gray, the Leeds assistant manager, said. “Mark gave Harry that bit more time and space to play round about him. They’re a good partnership. It’s the consistency we’re looking for.”

Terry Venables, catching the 17.40 to Kings Cross for a festive get-together, must have wished he had been on the 16.45. Then the Leeds manager would have missed Fabrice Fernandes earning Southampton a deserved point by scoring directly from a free kick 40 yards out on the touchline. “That was the least we deserved,” Gordon Strachan, the Southampton manager, said.

Strachan, a former Leeds captain who would be a prime candidate to take over should Venables’s sharp departure from Elland Road become more permanent, also pointed to a wrongly disallowed goal by Chris Marsden and a penalty that was not given for Teddy Lucic’s antics on Brett Ormerod, who also struck the crossbar with a fine effort. “We have a nice glow about us,” Strachan added.

Six times this season, Leeds have conceded goals in the final two minutes of games. “I don’t know why it is,” Kewell said. “Sometimes you can play well for 86 minutes of a game and be on top of teams but one of their players has a blinder, has two strikes and you’ve lost. That’s football. But in the last two games, we’ve got four points and we’re happy.”

Leeds United (4-4-2): P Robinson 6 — D Mills 5, J Woodgate 5, T Lucic 5, I Harte 4 — G Kelly 4, A Smith 6, P Okon 4, J Wilcox 5 — R Fowler 4 (sub: M Viduka, 53 5), H Kewell 6. Substitutes not used: N Martyn, S Johnson, M Duberry, J Milner. NEXT: Sunderland (a). FORM: DWLLLL

Southampton (4-4-2): A Niemi 6 — P Telfer 6, C Lundekvam 6, M Svensson 6, W Bridge 6 — F Fernandes 7, M Oakley 6, R Delap 5, C Marsden 6 (sub: A Svensson, 83) — J Beattie 5, B Ormerod 6 (sub: J Tessem, 62 5). Substitutes not used: P Jones, P Williams, K Davies. Booked: Marsden. NEXT: Chelsea (a). FORM: DDWWWL

Shots on target: (h) 12 (a) 5. Fouls: (h) 15 (a) 14. Offsides: (h) 2 (a) 3