Leo Scienza’s deflected seventh-minute strike was the difference at St Mary’s to ease pressure on head coach Eckert.

The overdue success lifted Saints to 15th in the table and provided a timely boost ahead of the weekend visit to Fratton Park.

“It feels good but in the end it’s not about me, it’s about the football club,” said Eckert.

“I think the football club needed that victory more than anything else. For the club, today was massive.

“What you can take away from this game is not every game is just beautiful in the sense of 65, 70 per cent possession and 25 shots on goal but there are some games that just go in a different way.

“I’m very sure that this game on Sunday will be a very tough one, one that we need to grind out.

“So knowing that we can do this, that we can come away with a clean sheet, knowing that we – with a desire to leave everything on the pitch – are able to win games of football is going to help us massively for Sunday.”

Southampton, whose previous league success was a 3-2 win over West Brom on December 9, wasted a series of chances to make the scoreline more comfortable.

The Blades almost snatched an 89th-minute leveller but Saints goalkeeper Daniel Peretz produced a crucial save to deny substitute Patrick Bamford.

“I think everyone in the stadium could see how much desire there was to win that game,” said Eckert.

“It’s not an easy period – not for the fans, not for us – but in the end we are all in this together and the reaction from the boys was excellent, the reaction from the fans was excellent.”

Blades boss Chris Wilder, whose selection options were depleted by injury and suspension, felt his side were unfortunate to leave empty-handed.

United created little for large parts of the contest but finished in the ascendancy and nearly levelled through Bamford.

“We’ve got to take something from that game, 100 per cent, especially second half,” said Wilder, whose 17th-placed team are four points above the relegation zone following a second-successive league loss.

“First half we were a little bit leggy and took our time to get going but we were a lot better second half.

“Even the last five, 10 minutes, we could possibly win that 3-1 with the chances we had but we’ve got to convert those situations.

“As much as the defeat pains me, we’ve got a team that’s having a right go. But I want us to have a right go and get something from the game and I certainly think we deserved something from the game.

“It’s a tough gig at the moment for everybody, losing the players we have done. But we’ve just got to fight our way through it and that’s what we’ll do.”