Martin hails 'brilliant' opening night
Russell Martin hailed a “brilliant” opening night for his Southampton side, who deservedly took home three points from Hillsborough courtesy of Ché Adams’s 87th-minute winner.
Sheffield Wednesday, last season’s League One play-off winners, found themselves chasing shadows for much of the game, even on home soil, as Saints enjoyed a staggering 80 per cent of the possession and completed 991 passes.
Saints took an early lead when Nathan Tella’s shot found the net via the slightest of deflections off Adam Armstrong.
The Owls drew level nine minutes into the second half, but Saints’ patient probing was rewarded when substitute Ché Adams pounced to win the game three minutes from time.
“It was brilliant,” Martin beamed at full time. “I’m really proud of the team, really proud of the players, really grateful to them for the way they performed, really carrying out what we wanted and what they’ve learned over the past five weeks.
“I’m frustrated we conceded, from a set-piece, and in the Championship that’s so important so we need to have a look at that. Andreas (Georgson, Set Piece Coach) has come in today so that will certainly help us.
“I’m pleased with so much of it and so proud of them for the courage they showed and the willingness to play in a certain way, which is so different to what we’ve been doing, and I think we showed so many good bits of the other side of the game that the club’s been so good at for a while.
“They’ve grown in every game, in pre-season, they’ve learned a lot in every game, and we need to grow and learn from tonight as well because there’s still so many bits we can improve on.
“But we limited a team to one shot, from a set-piece, on target and I think we had 24 ourselves. We played with so much purpose and aggression, we were in their box a lot, so I’m really pleased with that.
“They’ve built relationships on the pitch over a period of weeks, building connections all the time, so there will be loads to take from tonight that we can improve on.
“But ultimately we’ve come here to win, we have won and we’ve done it in our way – what’s going to be our way now of trying to do things: try to be dominant, try to control as much of the game as we can, to be brave, to be hungry and willing to run and press for each other. Hopefully we can maintain that.”
