Verdict: Saints 2 Charlton 3

All eleven players seemed initially paralysed by the weight of expectation. The strange, half-carnival, half-funeral mood of the bumper crowd risked turning into a full blown wake after Charlton took the lead within seven minutes with a simple finish from Jonjo Shelvey following a rudimentary punt upfield by keeper Rob Elliot.

But the St. Mary's faithful insisted on redoubling their vocal support and the scores were levelled thanks to a tidy run and crisp finish from McGoldrick just after the quarter hour mark.

Kelvin Davis saved a woeful penalty effort from Kandol ten minutes later - after an untidy and unnecessary foul by Jan-Paul Saeijs. Surey that should have set the scene, the football gods would smile on Southampton today?

But an open first half saw neither side dominant. Saints' midfield were leaving too many of the defensive duties to Paul Wotton, allowing Charlton to progress into the final third with relative ease. However, it did at least mean Southampton had men in advanced positions when they did seize control of the ball. Surman's far post header from a delightfully weighted Skacel cross was well dealt with by Elliot five minutes before the interval.

With news filtering through that our relegation rivals were failing to make much progress, Saints had a golden opportunity to take a sizeable leap away from the trapdoor. It was a chance they squandered.

The second half again saw numerous chances at both ends - with Charlton playing in a carefree fashion and Saints determined to go all-out for the win.

But by now, the visitors had woken up to Thomson's haplessness as a stand-in full back and were finding more and more space down the left flank. With Saeijs atypically unassured and Skacel appearing barely match fit, it was little surprise when a delicious Racon chip gave Charlton the lead on sixty minutes.

The crowd refused to lose their heart or their voice, but when - ten minutes later - the visitors extended their lead, the atmosphere changed from one of footballing expectation to one of morbid solidarity.

We were no longer watching a credible attempt to escape relegation, but rather collectively expressing our hope and determination that Southampton Football Club does not disappear entirely.

A wonderful effort from substitute Wright-Phillips, as he volleyed into the top corner from the edge of the box with six minutes remaining, proved just to be a cruel tease.

Although Ryan Smith and the superbly-named Zoltan Liptak had been thrown on in a desperate bid to snatch something from a genuine "must win" game, Saints just could not find a way through.

In the traumatic circumstances of the past week, it is impossible to view today's defeat in purely footballing terms.

But it must be said that Southampton's relegation is now effectively certain. If you can only win a seventh of your home games, you are not going to survive in this division.

Mercifully, this renders next week's deliberations by the Football League - on whether to impose a ten point penalty for the collapse of Southampton Leisure Holdings - almost entirely academic. St. Mary's will not be hosting Championship football from August. There remains a real risk that it won't be hosting football at all.

In the increasingly insane world of our national game, Saints fans will surely turn their attentions to off-the-pitch affairs.

Because, of course, the key man in securing a future for Southampton FC is not Mark Wotte or any of the players - it is Martin Fry, the administrator from Begbies Traynor.

And, whilst it's all very well for us to brag about the Premiership facilities at the club's disposal, what is the point of owning a Ferrari if you can't afford a drop of petrol?

Terrifyingly, we would be wrong to assume that this is our darkest hour.

The best we can probably hope for next season is to watch a team whose star players will be the likes of Olly Lancashire, Matt Paterson and Oscar Gobern.

The worst is just unthinkable.

Perhaps there are knights in shining armour about to ride to the rescue on their red and white steads. But the cavalry had better arrive pretty damned quickly.

If they don't, then this catastrophic season will be a mere trailer for a full-blown, feature-length horror movie.

The nightmare has only just begun.