Rusk hails Saints' mentality
Interim manager Simon Rusk felt his side got the “least they deserved” as Lesley Ugochukwu struck in stoppage time to earn a 1-1 draw at West Ham.
After a bright but goalless opening 45 minutes, the Hammers took the lead shortly after the restart through Jarrod Bowen.
Despite creating the better chances it looked like the visitors would have to settle for defeat in the capital, until Ugochukwu dispatched a venomous strike to earn a share of the spoils.
The result left Rusk pleased with what he saw at the London Stadium:
“I'm always a little bit apprehensive about having a strong feeling on the game after it without watching it back and feeling it out. But my feeling is at the minute it was the very least we deserved.
“I think we knew we had to defend well away from home in the Premier League. We know we're going to have to dig in and have that solidity around us, but yeah, there's no ignoring the big moments we had in the game.
“I thought we caused problems at the right time in the right way. So unlucky to come in at half time without being in front, disappointing with the nature of their goal, but delighted with the nature of the second goal in the game that went our way, I thought we deserved it.
“We need a mental stamina when we're going to go [a goal] down, but it's something we spoke about, if we get a knock how we deal with that, what we do to cope with it tactically and mentally. And we've done that really well and I did feel that we were going to get another big chance in the game and we did.”
Ugochukwu’s strike was his first in English football, with Rusk praising Saints’ youngsters in general.
“Great for Lesley, he's been really, really good. Second half of the season he's found a bit of momentum and rhythm. I think sometimes we're in danger of forgetting how young some of our players are and the Premier League minutes that they're getting under their belt.
“You know, Lesley is 20, Matty Fernandes is 20, Tyler Dibling on the pitch at the end of the game is 19. So, you know, with that blend of youth and experience at the end, we've got skip [Jack Stephens] and Jan and Harwood-Bellis all pushing the back as well. So there was a nice blend at the end and they all can enjoy that moment.”
