Martin proud to lead Saints to Wembley
Russell Martin has spoken of his pride in being able to lead Southampton to Wembley next Sunday for the Championship play-off final.
Saints booked their place in the capital with a 3-1 home victory over West Brom on Friday night, in the second leg of their semi-final, and will now face a winner-takes-all showdown with Leeds United for a place in the Premier League.
Speaking after the win at St Mary's, Martin said: "Well, I'll be super proud. We'll have to manage everything this week as well as we possibly can. The process won't change. The work won't change. We'll prepare in the best way we possibly can, because we need to make sure tonight is really worthwhile.
"To lead this club to Wembley, to have the honour and responsibility of giving everyone something to remember and to achieve something so special is something I'll never ever take for granted. So we just need to make it end in the right way."
Martin also hailed the contributions of goalscorers Will Smallbone and Adam Armstrong following Friday night's success.
"I love Will," he said. "Listen, I love all the players and what they do for us, but Will we've spoken about so many times because of the journey he's been on, and how much he has grown.
"It's an absolute privilege and a pleasure to be part of that. To hear the fans singing his name, he deserves that moment because he's just such a good guy, and he's such a good player, and the team and the players value him so much. Yeah, I'm really delighted and proud of him."
On Armstrong, the Saints boss said: "He was so good tonight. We had a good chat this week. He looked a little bit tired and leggy on Sunday in the heat and on the dry pitch. We spoke to him, asked him how he felt. He was like, "No, I'm fine". I said, "I'm going to need the pitbulll back, Adam Armstrong on Friday night."
"He was amazing, the way he pressed, the way he regained the ball. Quality finish. When you get a penalty, he's the guy you want to take it. Amazing."
