Martin pleased with Saints' progression
Russell Martin was pleased with the progression of his team as they earned a 1-0 win at Millwall in their latest pre-season outing.
Adam Armstrong's second-half goal was the difference at The Den in a game that Saints controlled throughout, earning them a fourth victory in five games this summer.
For Martin, the improvement from the midweek defeat at Oxford United made it a satisfying afternoon.
"It was definitely a progression from Wednesday, and a step up," said the Saints manager. "The lads were physically really strong today. Really happy they are in a good place fitness-wise, and there was loads of good stuff, just a bit of a lack of that last bit, the attacking threat in the first half. And then the guys second half made Millwall work a lot.
"You have to be patient sometimes for that opening, because you're playing against a team defending with a lot of numbers. But yeah, I was really pleased. We should have scored a few more goals, we limited them to very little and saw some really good stuff that was much better in terms of character and personality and aggression actually. I really enjoyed the aggression of the team today, so it was much better than Wednesday."
Martin added: "We had a lot of the ball, and I would have liked us to have done a bit more with it in the first half. It just didn't quite come off and we tweaked a few things at half time and that helped us a little bit. That's always down to the players and their willingness to take on some information and, honestly, they're a brilliant group, I love working with them.
"They understand each other, they play together and then a couple of cameos from the young guys late on, and they were great. So, yeah, on the whole it has been a really positive day for us. We have a clean sheet and, as I said, we're just looking to keep building and stepping forward and today was definitely that from Wednesday."
Martin was also pleased to get new signing Ben Brereton Díaz his first appearance in a Saints shirt, as the forward came on for the final 20 minutes of the game.
"I really like what I've seen from Ben since he's come in," he said. "Good character, good energy, a lot of talent, very flexible, very adaptable, and trying to understand very quickly what we want from him, and I really liked his performance there."
