Martin rues Saints' lack of intensity

The League Two side found themselves with a 3-0 lead until Carlos Alcaraz’s late consolation goal on a night when Martin changed his entire starting line-up following the Sky Bet Championship victory at Sheffield Wednesday on the opening night of the new season.

The manager praised Saints’ youngsters, including senior debutants Jayden Meghoma and Sam Amo-Ameyaw, who dazzled on the wing, but found himself wanting more from too many of his starters.

“Obviously we changed the whole team – not out of lack of respect for the competition, but because we need people to get minutes,” Martin explained.

“We had guys on Friday night that played, some of them played their first 90 minutes, most of them covered way more [ground] than in the last two seasons, because of the extra time and all that stuff.

“We put a team on the pitch today with nine people who have played in the Premier League, who would probably consider themselves Premier League players, or would like to think of themselves as that, and the biggest highlight was the young guys.

“Sam Amo was outstanding, really pleased with him. Kami Doyle when he came on was great, Jayden [Meghoma] was fantastic, so that probably sums the night up, that those three were the real standouts for me.

“For Shea Charles that’ll be great tonight, a big learning for him, Stuey Armstrong was outstanding in the 45 minutes he was on – we can only give him 45 because he hasn’t played many minutes in pre-season.

“Him, Sékou [Mara] and Joe Aribo, we used the game to try to get them up to speed with game minutes, and it was an opportunity to do that. None of them could last any longer on the pitch, Romain [Perraud] the same, because he needs games, but we might need some of these guys. We’re definitely going to need Stuey and Joe and Shea Charles, for sure.

“That was important, but there was nowhere near enough intensity or courage to play in the first half, to actually pass the ball properly with purpose. Too many people off script, not sticking to the detail or the plan.

“I just said to them it’s a really big lesson for us; a good lesson in that however you play, you need to run and fight – really run and fight – whatever team you’re playing against. We didn’t do enough of that.

“It’s disappointing for the supporters that came, for the players, for the young guys who deserved better, I think, especially after Friday and the feel-good factor.

“It’s on me, I made 11 changes thinking we would be ok with the amount of quality we had on the pitch, but we had a lot of quality on the pitch who maybe know they’re not going to be on the journey, who maybe think their future’s elsewhere in the next three weeks, and I probably had to consider that a bit more.

“But I also think, whilst you’re here and you have the opportunity to step on the pitch, it is an opportunity to really show what you’ve got and try to force your way into the starting XI or leave a lasting impression on people, and we didn’t do that.”