League One promotion hopefuls Southampton were edged by Bolton Wanderers in the Carling Cup at St Mary's on Tuesday.
Ivan Klasnic struck the only goal of the game for the Premier League side, though Alan Pardew's men did plenty of attacking in the first half and probably should have gone in front in the second round clash.
Adam Lallana, Lee Barnard and Jason Puncheon all brought saves from Bolton's debutant goalkeeper Adam Bogdan. He easily saved an early Lallana header after a Rickie Lambert cross, with Barnard then firing an effort over and a 20-yarder from Puncheon later kept out by the young goalkeeper as well.
Ricardo Gardner hit Bolton's first shot in the 28th minute, but a few minutes later they were ahead as former Saint Kevin Davies knocked down a cross from Sam Ricketts and Klasnic pounced to prod in his first goal of the season.
Lallana fired wide before half-time came and went, seeing weekend hero Johan Elmander introduced for the Trotters and he almost doubled Owen Coyle's side's lead soon after with a vicious effort that just flew wide.
Southampton continued to look on a par with their top flight rivals though and Puncheon saw a shot fumbled by Bogdan before the goalkeeper just collected the loose ball with Barnard threatening. The dangerous Lambert hit the side-netting soon after.
Young Bodgan continued to shine as he kept out a fierce long-range drive from Danny Butterfield and, right at the death, his fingers tipped over a David Connolly effort as Bolton held on for a smash-and-grab win.