Downes on "proud day"

The midfielder marked his landmark appearance just three minutes into the second half, tapping home from close range following Kuryu Matsuki's cross and Cyle Larin's deft touch onto the post.

Matsuki added a second for Saints on 85 minutes, which proved enough for the three points despite Victor Torp halving the lead from the penalty spot in stoppage time.

"It's a massive win," said Downes, "It was absolutely massive. We watched the [Wrexham] game last night, we knew we had to win. Simple as that. We knew we had to come here and we knew they were going to be on it. They're top of the league for a reason. A good team, stadium was bouncing, but we believe in that changing room and we got the job done.

"I just follow the boss [on tactical changes], really! Whatever he says, I do! He's obviously got his ideas and he wanted me to play a bit higher, with [Cam] Braggy a bit deeper. We did it and it worked!"

On marking his century of appearances, the midfielder said: "To be fair I didn't know it was my 100th until literally before I was coming out. So it's a proud day for me today, proud day. And I'm happy to get a goal as well. There's been a lot of ups and downs. Like I said earlier at the start of the season we didn't do ourselves justice, at all. We struggled a bit from last year. Look, we're normal people. We had a really tough year last year and didn't get it quite right at the start of the season.

"But now, look, a lot of people are flying. We've got to keep this momentum going. We've got to keep winning games. Hopefully we'll get in the top six. As I said, coming here is a tough place, probably the toughest place in the league. So to do what we've done, win the game, now back to St Mary's on Wednesday. I can't wait to get home!"