Martin on "beautiful privilege" of watching players grow
A delighted Russell Martin spoke of the pride and gratitude he has for his players after watching them in their 2-0 victory over Cardiff City.
Saints produced a fantastic performance at St Mary's to record yet another win and extend their league-leading unbeaten run to 11 matches, with the final score not even close to illustrating the dominance that Martin's team had.
"I really enjoyed it," he said. "I'm really proud of them. We asked for certain things after Wednesday, that's the process we embark on is to try and learn from every game and try to improve and there was some amazing stuff in there.
"I really enjoyed watching our team play today and I really enjoyed the energy in the whole stadium, the fans and the team and how they played.
"First half we really started the game so, so well and then for 15, 20 minutes in the latter part of the first half we just let the tempo drop a little bit. We were still good I thought and we were still well in control, but we gave Cardiff a moment and a chance and you could see they felt maybe there was a chance in the game for them, so at half time that's what we spoke about – it's a choice really, you get on the front foot, you be more aggressive, you be relentless with your energy and willingness to take the ball and play and run, and second half some of the football we played was incredible.
"If a couple of those chances go in – Ryan Fraser with one or two, Ché Adams, they start from Gavin all the way through. I was just watching it with so much pride and gratitude for the players and what they're doing. We should have scored a few more goals, we created a lot, but in the second half I don't think Cardiff had a chance really, and they're a really well organised side who are difficult to play against, so I'm delighted with the players."
When asked about the move for the opening goal, which saw Saints go from a throw-in close to their own corner flag to Adam Armstrong curling a shot into the top corner from the edge of the area – one of many high-quality passages of play during the game – Martin was glowing in his assessment of the players.
"I always said if I ever get the opportunity to do this job (managing), I said four years ago I want to enjoy watching the team play and feel proud of what you're seeing and grateful for what the players are giving you and I feel all of that with this team," he said.
"It's been a beautiful privilege to watch them grow and keep growing, and now it's my job to keep being really demanding of them, unfortunately for them, to make sure we keep growing and building, but the spirit and the energy in the stadium today was really beautiful from where we were, I don't know, five months ago to where we are now is a big difference and that takes a lot of hard work and a lot of belief and conviction and most importantly for us a lot of courage from the players.
"So to see moments like that when they come off and they pay off is evidence for the players about what they're doing and how hard they work in training and what they work on and hopefully evidence for the supporters that we are on this journey now and we're going to try to give them a team to be really proud of and hopefully they're starting to feel that."
