Eckert: We got what we deserved
Tonda Eckert felt his Southampton side only had themselves to blame for a disappointing Boxing Day defeat at Oxford.
Travelling to the Kassam Stadium for the first time in a competitive fixture, Saints fell behind to Tyler Goodrham’s long-range rocket midway through the first half, but bounced back quickly to level the scores through Taylor Harwood-Bellis’s fourth goal of the season.
But Eckert felt Saints were wasteful as they pushed for a winner and left themselves too exposed to counter-attacks, which is ultimately how Stanley Mills won the game for the hosts with a minute to go.
“I think that we started quite well today. I think the first 20 minutes were good, but we lost an easy ball on the throw-in and they get a goal off a set-piece,” the head coach reflected.
“We managed to get back into the game. The only thing important for us is that we stay on the ball, that we are clean in possession, and we didn’t manage to do that in the second half.
“The game was very open in both directions. It’s a very disappointing result. Today is completely on us in the second half.
“We didn’t manage to control every single time we got in their half. If we didn’t manage to conclude, to finish the action, there was a transition down the other end. We need to get better at that quickly.
“We need to work towards clean sheets, because the first goal in a game always changes the momentum.”
Saints are now faced with a quick turnaround ahead of another away trip to Birmingham on Monday night (8.15pm GMT).
“It’s going to be a completely different game,” Eckert added. “Different stadium, different atmosphere, but we go again, we go strong.
“Today is disappointing. We need to recover quickly, we need to make up ground.”
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