This is how Saints could have ended up had the club failed to have come out of administration just over a week ago - playing park football against well-meaning amateurs and fielding a team of players in their teens, who are earning paperboy wages for plying their trade.
Southampton fans are understandably delighted that the club has the opportunity to rebuild within the Football League structure and St. Mary's stadium will play host to fifty times as many fans for the "glamour" pre-season friendly against Ajax on Saturday.
But if the truth be known, this level of football has much to commend it and - from the evidence of ninety minutes of football on a chilly July evening - the Saints academy still looks capable of turning boys with potential into genuinely accomplished players. For all the hyberbole surrounding which players may be attracted to St. Mary's by the Liebherr fortune, we should not lose sight of our record in youth development. A million pounds spent on strengthening our academy may well be the best million the new owner can spend.
The starting line-up was hardly a list of household names - Jack Dovey (16 years old) started in goal, with a back four (from right to left) of Sam Argent (17), Ryan Tafazolli (17), Ciaran Harper (17) and Ben Reeves (17) , a midfield quartet of Daryl McLean (17) , Andy Robinson (16), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (15) and Gary Preen (17), with Bobby Scott (16) and Jordan Keegan (17) playing up front.
Newport were the physically more powerful side, but Saints played with pace and imagination, with McLean and Preen providing a real threat down both flanks. A mazy run from Preen after 11 minutes led to him being chopped down in the box. He went on to comfortably convert the penalty.
Speculative, albeit inviting, crosses from the wings were generally dealt with forcibly - if a little inelegantly - by the tall Newport defence, meaning Scott and Keegan were limited to half chances. Although the former was unlucky not to score with a well judged effort from over twenty yards out.
Southampton looked by far the likelier side throughout the first period, with enterprising left back Ben Reeves impressing, as well as both wingers.
Half time: Newport 0 Southampton XI 1
The home side substituted the bulk of their team for the start of the second half and took the game to a Saints team who kept on nine of their first half players. On 51 minutes, Jack Dovey was a little slow in coming off his line and Newport's Darren Powell (no relation) bundled a header over the line from a couple of yards out.
But the island team had expended most of their energy by the hour mark and the sprightly Saints youngsters dictated most of the play for the rest of the contest. An impressive save from the enormous Newport substitute keeper stopped Sam Hoskins from re-establishing the lead on 61 minutes.
But with quarter of an hour to go, Hoskins did get on the score sheet with a wonderfully timed run and chip from twelve yards out.
Three minutes later, Sam Argent, now playing more centrally killed off the game with a sublime finish from outside the box. If our first team's defenders had possessed the same sort of accuracy last season, we might well be starting our campaign in the Championship this August. In fact, Argent also showed the sort of tireless running, teamwork and on-the-field leadership that we seemed to lack completely under last term's double Dutch disaster.
A slightly harsh penalty for handball with four minutes remaining allowed Tafazolli to convert from the spot. But a final scoreline of 4-1 in no way flattered this Southampton line-up. If we can keep producing young players of this quality, Markus Liebherr may not need to reach for his wallet as much as we might think.
Full time: Newport 1 Southampton XI 4
Man of the match: Ben Reeves
Honourable mentions: Sam Argent, Gary Preen, Daryl MacLean