Rusk: We didn't perform well enough today
Simon Rusk admitted his side "struggled to maintain" their performance levels after a shift in momentum lead to defeat against Leicester City in the Premier League.
Goals from Jamie Vardy and Jordan Ayew, either side of a lengthy first half delay for a change in referees, were enough to put the hosts 2-0 ahead at the break with Saints unable to claw a result back at the King Power Stadium.
With both sides already relegated and occupying the league's bottom two places, it was Leicester who ended their winless run and extended Saints' unwanted streak with three games of the season remaining.
"I thought we started the game quite well." Interim Manager Rusk reflected, "I think the goal was possibly against a run of play and it seemed to totally knock us, take the wind out of our sails really, and we struggled to maintain any type of performance level from there on in."
On the first-half delay that followed, Rusk added, "It was strange really, of course we hope the referee is okay but, for the momentum of the game, it added something that we maybe didn't need to get going again.
"It's ifs, buts and maybes at the end of the day, and we didn't perform well enough today.
"I've been really happy with the lead up to this game today, and the last couple of games and what we were seeing, for whatever reason today it didn't work - I need to assess why that was and it needed something different.
"It's important for everyone that we finish as hard-working as we possibly can and I have no doubt that that's going to be the case. The season is clearly a difficult one, I've inherited it with seven games to go when the team's only won two games, so the confidence levels aren't high.
"Managing that and pushing that forwards is one of my priorities, and what we need to do is stick together - stick together as a football club and somehow get over the line at the end of the season with as much dignity as possible."
