Martin hails “most complete performance we’ve had”
Russell Martin hailed “the most complete performance we’ve had” after seeing his Southampton side chalk up back-to-back wins with a hard-fought 1-0 victory at Stoke.
Stuart Armstrong scored the only goal of the game four with a stunning free-kick four minutes before the interval, while Saints had big chances to add a second through Armstrong, Kamaldeen Sulemana and Sékou Mara after half time.
Ultimately Martin’s side would have to come through more than ten minutes of added time, but showed their resilience to register a precious first clean sheet of the season.
“It’s been really nice, I think it’s probably the most complete performance we’ve had,” the manager said. “Maybe could’ve had another goal or two, being really critical, but really proud of the players.
“So brave, the way they built up and played out from back to front for the first 70-odd minutes was, at times, really incredible. I’m really proud of them.
“It’s a difficult place to come – two really tough games, the way we’ve come through it, the way they stuck together, the way they fought, they deserved that clean sheet tonight and I’m really pleased for Gavin [Bazunu] because he’s involved in so much with the ball and he’s incredible at it, so brave.
“They played, they moved, they ran for each other, and we’ve learned a lot together, we’ve been through a lot already and hopefully now we need to just keep driving on, keep kicking on and everyone can start enjoying themselves.
“I don’t think they created a huge amount. It didn’t feel that way in the game, it felt like in transition the guys were brilliant, defended well, the lads put their bodies on the line when they had to right at the end when Stoke threw caution to the wind and put so many bodies up front.
“The game could’ve been made a little bit easier by then just finishing one of those chances off that we had – some of them were brilliant, beautiful moves and it would’ve been the icing on the cake, but they dug in, stuck at it.
“Gav had one proper save to make, I think, in the second half and the togetherness, the connection of the team is growing all the time. They really enjoyed that, and they deserved it.”
