Saints were beaten in a six goal game at St. Mary's against Championship side Reading.
A lively display from both sides eventually saw the higher level quality tell in a game which Saints matched their opponents for long periods of.
However, the energy sapping performance may have an even higher price to pay with the loss of another player to an injury joining a growing list just a week before the season's start.
Saints already had to make do without the services of Rickie Lambert, Jason Puncheon, Adam Lallana, Morgan Schneiderlin, Dan Seaborne and Lee Holmes for the visit of Reading, and when Joseph Mills gingerly made his way to the sidelines with a calf strain in the first half, it only added cause for concern.
The game itself saw Saints come from a goal down to lead 2-1 thanks to goals from Lee Barnard and Dean Hammond, before the Royals ran out comfortable winners in the second half.
Saints: Davis, Butterfield, Jaidi (A. Martin 67), Fonte (Tafazolli 76), Harding (Reeves 70), Dickson, Hammond, Wotton, Mills (Chamberlain 40), Barnard (Pulis 74), Connolly (Doble 61). Subs (not used): Bialkowski, Saville.
Reading: Federici, Griffin, Williams, Mills, Pearce, Tabb (Karacan 70), Sigurdsson (Taylor 63), Howard (Gunnarsson 70), Robson-Kanu (Antonio 63), McAnuff (Bignall 82), Long (Church 31). Subs (not used): Hamer, Rasiak.
Referee: Mr. K. Stroud
Saints lined up with Lee Barnard and David Connolly in attack in a 4-4-2 formation with Dean Hamond skippering the threadbare side.
Reading included former Saints Michail Antonio and Grzegorz Rasiak amongst their substitutes.
Southampton got things underway in their kit of black shirt and shorts with red socks attacking the Northam End on a sunny day inside St. Mary's.
Early on, the hosts looked comfortable in possession with the first glimpse of goal arriving on 3 minutes when Ryan Dickson and David Connolly linked up to find Dan Harding on the left. The full back picked out Joseph Mills at the far post, but the youngster couldn't force his header on target.
Dickson continued to show plenty of endeavour on the left side going forward, but Saints had to be alert at the other end when Shane Long broke through the middle, but Radhi Jaidi stood up to the test with a firm interception inside the area.
Barnard and Connolly were busy going forward linking up on numerous occasions, but the deadlock was almost broken from an unlikely source on nine minutes, as Danny Butterfield angled in a shot cum cross from the right, which Adam Federici in the Royals goal could only push behind for a corner.
On 14 the visitors had the ball in the back of the net but the offside flag had already been raised before Shane Long tapped home from Hal Robson-Kanu's knock across the box to his teammate.
However, just four minutes later, Reading made one count to take the lead.
Gylfi Sigurdsson's one man mission saw him evade the challenge of Jose Fonte on the edge of the box before firing low into the bottom right of Kelvin Davis' goal with a crisp finish to give Reading the advantage.
Moments later, Fonte and Long collided with a clash of heads, but fortunately both players were OK to carry on despite a couple of minutes of treatment.
Just before the half hour mark the Royals threatened again, when Sigurdsson delivered a low free kick from the left into the box which former Saint, Matt Mills prodded wide from close range.
Long had still not shaken off the effects of his earlier injury and on 31 minutes he was replaced by Simon Church in attack.
Saints drew level shortly afterwards thanks to some neat footwork from Barnard as he collected Dickson's ball into him on the edge of the area. From there, the striker brought the ball under his control with a clever first touch before picking out the bottom corner with a controlled finish to make it 1-1.
The game swung back up the other end shortly after the eqauliser and Saints survived a scare when Jobi McAnuff rattled the woodwork with a solid strike on the right of the area which smashed back into play, but to safety from the hosts' point of view.
Five minutes before the break, another injury appeared to hit the home side as Mills made his way to the touchline. He was replaced by Alex Chamberlain.
The competitive nature of the match continued right up until the interval, and Paul Wotton was the first name to go in the referee's notebook after a forceful challenge on Howard.
Half Time: Saints 1-1 Reading
No changes were made by either team at the break, as Saints made an encouraging start to the second half with Alex Chamberlain pressing the right flank with determination early on.
And, on 49 minutes the hosts turned the game on its head to lead 2-1. Harding's free kick just inside the Royals' half from the left, floated all the way to the far post where Hammond was waiting to glide a header over Federici back across the goal and into the far corner.
Recent arrival, Dickson continued to be lively, taking set pieces and roaming around with plenty of energy on the left side. He supplied Hammond with another header from his corner which was kept out, before he then also created the melee inside the area which Connolly, Jaidi and Barnard all went close to scoring from.
On 61 Saints withdrew Connolly for Ryan Doble up front, and minutes later the visitors brought on St. Mary's crowd favourite Michail Antonio in place of Hal Robson Kanu. Jake Taylor also replaced Sigurdsson in midfield.
In the 65th minute Doble linked up with Dickson on the edge of the area, but the former Brentford man couldn't keep his shot down as he bore down on goal.
With just over 20 minutes to play Reading were awarded a penalty after Harding was adjudged to have fouled Jay Tabb inside the area.
Church stepped up to take the spot kick and made no mistake from 12 yards beating Davis, who had guessed the correct way, but couldn't get to the firm strike.
A flurry of substitutions interrupted the flow of the game, but Reading took full advantage with quarter of an hour left to play, as Church grabbed his second of the game by heading home McAnuff's cross from the left.
The result was made worse with five minutes remaining as Andy Griffin's innocuous looking free kick found its way to Antonio inside the six yard box who was able to stab home with relative ease.
Another useful work out for the hosts, but they now have just a week to find their groove ahead of the new campaign.
Full Time: Saints 2-4 Reading
