Southampton manager Will Still admitted his side were far from their best during Tuesday’s 1-0 victory over Northampton in the first round of the Carabao Cup.
Saints arrived at Sixfields as strong favourites to breeze into round two but they were second best in the first half and had Northampton’s wasteful finishing to thank for not falling behind.
In the end, the decisive blow came three minutes into the second half when Mateus Fernandes produced a moment of quality to score the game’s only goal.
“It wasn’t our best performance at all,” admitted Still. “We can do better than that, we know that, but they had nothing to lose and they made it really difficult for us and these cup games are always tricky.
“We found it difficult at times and it wasn’t pretty but it’s a clean sheet and we got the job done.”
Northampton boss Kevin Nolan said: “I’m disappointed to lose the game first and foremost because we don’t want to lose any game at Sixfields, even against teams with the quality of Southampton.
“But we matched them wonderfully well, both in and out of possession, and we weren’t far off them. We put them under pressure and we had plenty of good moments but we just weren’t able to put the ball in the back of the net.
“They showed that moment of quality early in the second half but I was really pleased with the reaction and I was delighted with how we went about our business and there was a lot of our play that was excellent.”
