Saints held on League One debut
Southampton's Swiss revolution got off to a faltering start as they were held to a 1-1 draw by League One promotion hopefuls Millwall at St Mary's Stadium.
In a first half of few chances it was Saints, buoyed by the recent takeover of Swiss billionaire Marcus Liebherr, who looked most threatening, with midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin twice testing Millwall goalkeeper David Forde from long-range chipped efforts.
Millwall, as ever backed by vocal travelling support, played at a high tempo but rarely troubled Saints` defence.
After the cagey opening period the second half began with a flourish and five minutes after the restart Southampton were ahead, teenage striker Matt Paterson staying onside to finish coolly from six yards.
The home side failed to build on their lead and 15 minutes later Millwall were level.
After being awarded a soft penalty in the 64th minute for a push on Jason Price, Gary Alexander spurned the chance to equalise, his tame penalty being saved by Saints stopper Kelvin Davis.
The brace of corners following Davis's penalty stop had the Southampton defence in disarray and the second set piece saw midfielder Nadjim Abdou loop a header over Davis from 12 yards to secure a point for the Lions.
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