The first game on Southampton's Swiss tour saw the visitors get off to the perfect start. Lee Holmes' pinpoint cross found David Connolly to head Saints ahead after six minutes. In a carbon copy of the opening goal, Holmes again found Connolly to double the away side's lead.
Saints looked comfortable, however, the home side woke up and piled the pressure on their opponents. Marco Mathys' low deflected drive wrong-footed Bartosz Bialkowski midway through the first half.
Adam Lallana and Connolly stood out in the first half as Southampton held a 2-1 lead at the break. Saints changed their entire team at the break. Kaua Safari took advantage of a sluggish start to the second half from Saints, slotting home after a good through ball to tie up the scores.
The inexperience of Saints in the second half allowed Biel to dominate, and they took the lead with less than ten minutes remaining. Southampton failed to clear their lines from a corner and Safari was on hand to grab his second goal of the game to make it 3-2.
Southampton didn't give up, however, and it was Alex Chamberlain who had the last say. Moments after going behind, the youngster hit a perfect shot past the Biel goalkeeper. The game ended level with Saints given a good first test on their pre-season tour.
New signing Jack Cork did not feature for Saints, as did Kelvin Davis and Lee Barnard. Southampton face FC St Gallen on Saturday.
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