Larin: Win a big step

Falling behind to Mark Sykes’ opener, Larin levelled things up with a well-taken header before Finn Azaz put the hosts in the driving seat at the halfway stage.

Leo Scienza’s penalty just seven minutes after the restart added a cushion before the Canada international scored a stunning second of the afternoon with a moment of individual brilliance, flicking the ball over a defender’s head before volleying into the bottom corner.

Rounding off an impressive outing against the league-leaders at the start of the day, Tom Fellows opened his Saints account in the closing stages.

Writing off the minus four start to now sit in 18th on two points, Larin said:

“I think it's a big step for the guys, for the team, for the fans, for the club. I think starting on minus was difficult for the guys and it's always in your head, but I think now we have to keep pushing and game by game get better. I think next game is the most important to keep pushing.

“I think we're making steps to get there again and obviously have new faces and guys going and coming in. But I think we're making steps each training session, each game and obviously today saw where we’re going to be and where we want to be, but I think it’s going to keep progressing each game.

“We know the quality we have and the guys we have and what we did. But I think it's going to be a lot tougher this year with where we started and now we're just making steps each game and each training session.

“So I think we're going to have to put a lot more out there in the games and I think today you saw that and we're able to bounce back and come back into the game.”