Reaction from the bet365 Stadium as Stoke City and Southampton played out a controversial match in the Championship
Russell Martin praised Southampton’s aggressiveness, fight and calmness after seeing out a hard-fought win at Stoke City.
In a match of few big chances, a direct Stuart Armstrong free-kick late in the first half earned all three points for the visitors at the bet365 Stadium – and a second win on the spin on the back of four successive defeats. Martin was pleased with how his team managed the game during the second half, even if they still needed some key decisions to go in their favour.
“I thought it was great, a really good follow up to the effort it took on Saturday (to beat Leeds 3-1) to come here in such a tough place against a good team and a really excellent manager,” said Martin, who had played for Neil at Norwich. “To come here and do that, I’m really proud of the boys, really grateful.
“I thought we got the ball up well in the first half but in the end when we got into the final third it just broke down to quickly. In transition, we were really good. Flynn (Downes) was monstrous. In the last two games he’s back up to speed and the Flynn that we know and he’s been outstanding.
“They put all the work in on the pitch, trusted it and trusted each other, fought for each other and we fought so hard. It’s a team that is really fighting for each other and really aggressive and really good at what they do.
“We took the fight out of the game as well with moments of incredible composure and calmness, which were so important and we’d spoken about it before the game. You have to be so brave to do that in the midst of the chaos.”
Martin claimed he did not know what had caused tempers to flare after the full-time whistle, although he was on the pitch and close to where players were squaring up to each other. He said: “I didn’t get involved because Wesley is huge.”
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