RALPH Hasenhuttl has refuted suggestions of his Saints players being “on the beach” following the 2-2 draw at Brighton, insisting “we have shown they are not”.
Ralph Hasenhuttl said: “It was said last week that the guys on the pitch seemed to be on the beach. But we have shown today that they are not. They want to achieve more than 40 points and today we showed a very, very good reaction. It is not the first time this season we have shown it, we have shown it very often. Also now where some people think the season is gone for us because we have now 40 points and you can be sure that we want to get more. We have four games to go and still have plenty of points to take and we will keep on going.”
Brighton’s early opener, scored by Danny Welbeck inside 90 seconds, was the first goal the Seagulls had scored at home since January – blanking in five fixtures since. They have won just three home matches all season, and would be relegated on home form alone so far. Hasenhuttl insisted his side could sense the fragility and were urged to keep pushing.
Ralph Hasenhuttl added: “We kept the pressure high on them and we knew about the history they had in their own ground where they haven’t won a lot of games this season. It was clear they are a little bit struggling mentally and we tried to use this fact and absolutely deserved the equaliser.”
