Dani Osvaldo's stunning first-half strike gave Southampton a hard fought and well deserved point against Manchester City at St. Mary''s.

City started well as they went in search of only their third away victory in the Premier League this season, and Sergio Aguero's tenth minute opener looked to have set them well on their way of achieving it.

But Saints' record signing Dani Osvaldo levelled proceedings three minutes before the interval when he capped an impressive piece of trickery on the edge of the City area with a superb curling effort beyond Costel Pantilimon.

It was nothing more than what the hosts deserved after an energetic and resilient display that would have been worthy of all three points had they found a winner.

Aguero should have doubled City's lead on the half-hour mark when Yaya Toure pulled the ball back to the penalty spot for the Argentine to strike, but he blazed over.

Southampton continued to threaten City with close efforts from James Ward-Prowse and Jay Rodriguez in the first-half, while Osvaldo should have done better when he broke City's offside trap to go clear, but he took too long to get a shot away and gave City's defence time to recover.

City had their fare share of chances to snatch a winner in the second-half, but Aguero, Toure and Nasri all wasting chances inside the Saints penalty area.

Southampton perhaps looked more likely to snatch a winner in the dying stages, but City held their nerve and did well to take a point away from the game in the end.

The result leaves City five points behind leaders Arsenal, while Southampton moved above Manchester United in to eight, despite making it four Premier League outings without a win.

Look back at our minute-by-minute commentary of the match here.