José Fonte hailed the defensive performance which helped Saints towards all three points against Swansea City at St Mary’s.
The Swans went into the game with a record of three goals conceded in five league games but their watertight backline was breached three times by Saints, long before a late consolation from the penalty spot to reduce the deficit.
The result also lifted Saints above the Welsh side in the Barclays Premier League table after seven matches played.
“Well, obviously, we needed that,” Fonte said after the game. “We were a little bit under pressure.
“We don’t want to be in the position we were starting this fixture in, so for us to get three points and three goals to get the better of them is great.
“We're obviously disappointed with the goal conceded – we always want to keep clean-sheets – but, at the end of the day, the most important thing was three points and moving up the table.
“We showed that we were a league above them. We were strong at the back – they only had shots from outside the box and, if we can sort that out a little bit better, they wouldn’t create anything.
“We were pleased with the performance, we looked strong and we looked dangerous as well going forward – we got three goals.”
The only note of frustration for Fonte came from conceding the penalty that Gylfi Sigurdsson’s converted in the latter stages of the contest, when his lunge on Neil Taylor was punished.
“I lost my feet and I slide and when you go sliding in the box you run the risk of making a penalty,” he said.
“Unfortunately that’s what happened and I’m disappointed on that, but if you didn’t dive in and try to block he probably would have scored as well.”
Share this: