ADAM Smith saw red as Rickie Lambert’s penalty double condemned Cherries to a disappointing derby day defeat at St Mary’s this afternoon.

Lambert fired home spot kicks in each half as Eddie Howe’s men failed to reproduce the form that had seen them climb to second in League One.

Rhoys Wiggins’s handball midway through the first half and a clumsy Marvin Bartley challenge 10 minutes into the second period were responsible for the spot kicks, while Smith was sent off four minutes from time for a second bookable offence.

Howe named an unchanged line-up following the midweek victory over Exeter City at Dean Court, with fit-again Michael Symes keeping his place up front alongside Josh McQuoid.

Cherries started the brightest, with Liam Feeney’s shot cannoning back off the post inside a minute.

Symes, whose centre had set up Feeney, then fired narrowly wide from the rebound.

The home side then got in on the act during a pulsating opening, with Lee Barnard denied by Shwan Jalal at full stretch and Lambert’s follow-up bundled off the line by some last-ditch defending.

Adam Lallana’s acrobatic seventh-minute effort flashed wide of Jalal’s post after more good work from Barnard and as the home side settled the derby nerves quicker, Cherries spent much of the next quarter-of-an-hour on the back foot.

And the pressure told on 18 minutes when Wiggins was adjudged to have handled the ball during a tussle with Lambert just inside the Cherries box.

The former Bristol Rovers man blasted his spot kick high into the roof of the net for only his third goal of a less than productive season.

Cherries, to their credit, continued their work ethic, but it was still Nigel Adkins’s side that looked the most threatening.

Referee Kevin Wright felt the full force of the St Mary’s faithful five minutes before the break when he called play back for a dubious foul on halfway, despite Jason Puncheon being clean through after an incisive through ball carved open the Cherries back four.

An out-of-sorts Feeney was withdrawn from the action at half-time by Howe, who threw on Shaun Cooper and reverted to a 3-5-2 formation when in attack.

But it was Saints who continued their impressive first-half showing during the early second-half exchanges.

On 53 minutes, Jalal had to spare Cooper’s blushes after the substitute’s stray pass had played in Barnard. Jalal twice smothered goal-scoring opportunities, but as Morgan Schneiderlin shaped to shoot just inside the box, Bartley chopped him down.

Lambert stepped up for a second time and fired past Jalal from the spot.

Schneiderlin shot straight at Jalal just after the hour mark as the hosts continued to press and despite the introductions of both Steve Fletcher and Danny Hollands for the final 20 minutes, Cherries continued to offer very little.

Jalal pushed Lambert’s 74th-minute free kick to safety after Jason Pearce had felled Barnard on the edge of the area, while Marc Pugh looked on as his right-foot effort 14 minutes from time was deflected away for a corner after a rare Cherries attack.

Fletcher’s appeals for a penalty moments later were waved away by referee Wright after the big striker had tangled with Jose Fonte inside the Saints box.

And Cherries’ afternoon went from bad to worse four minutes from time when loanee Smith was dismissed for a second bookable offence following a foul on Puncheon.

Saints (4-4-2): Davis; Butterfield, Seaborne, Fonte, Harding; Puncheon, Schneiderlin, Hammond, Lallana (Chamberlain, 69); Lambert (Do Prado, 84), Barnard (Chaplow, 80).

Unused subs: Dickson, Jaidi, Holmes, Bialkowski (g/k).

Booked: Chaplow.

Cherries: (4-4-2) Jalal; Smith, Pearce, Garry, Wiggins; Feeney (Cooper, h-t), Robinson, Bartley (Hollands, 61), Pugh; Symes (Fletcher, 68), McQuoid.

Unused subs: Cummings, Bradbury, Taylor, Stewart (g/k).

Booked: Pearce, Bartley, Smith, Jalal.

Sent off: Smith.

Referee: Kevin Wright (Cambridgeshire).

Attendance: 26,289 (inc 3,268 away supporters).