Martin: This can't be a one-off

Saints raced into a 3-0 half-time lead after making the breakthrough inside two minutes, with Adam Armstrong on target either side of Will Smallbone’s measured finish, as previously in-form Leeds were put to the sword.

Martin acknowledged the second period was less eye-catching, and the visitors did pull one back, but never really threatened to spoil the party as Saints returned to winning ways after four successive defeats.

“Firstly I’m just really proud of everyone,” Martin said. “I felt there was a choice this week – I said it before the game, whether it was conscious of subconscious, to really dig deep and go all in, stay brave, fight for each other and stick together, or have a little bit of self-pity, feel sorry for yourselves and float through, but they’ve been incredible this week.

“It’s the best week of training we’ve had, and it’s been transferred on to the pitch, which is no surprise.

“I said to them, ‘we have to use that now to really build on, it can’t be a one-off.’ The aggression in the team, the intensity, was outstanding, in the first half the courage to play was amazing, we scored two brilliant goals, really top goals from playing through, and hopefully the players will feel really good about themselves.

“The second half I didn’t particularly enjoy, but I understand when you haven’t won for a while, the mentality to hang on to that lead.

“We had two chances to really go and kill the game off early on from a press and we couldn’t take them, and then we were trying to kill the opposition too early with a bit of anxiety on the ball in terms of decision making.

“But actually when they didn’t do that well with the ball, they were so aggressive without it, so together, and I’m really, really proud of them.

“The first-half performance alone deserves for us to be the winners and Leeds created very little, so I’m really proud. We showed two different sides of our game today, and when we can put both of them together, we’re going to be more than alright.”

Martin made four changes to his side, including a first start of the season for Kamaldeen Sulemana, who assisted two goals in four first-half minutes, and a first start since August for Carlos Alcaraz, who played up front, flanked by Armstrong and Kamaldeen.

“We had players really hungry on the pitch who haven’t played for a while who showed what they can do,” he added.

“It’s been really difficult trying to find the strongest eleven for certain games, with the amount of change we’ve had, I just don’t think we can underestimate that.

“The fans were brilliant today. It would be so easy after the run we’ve been on, but they were great from the start and I’m really grateful for that.

“I’m grateful to the players because they showed how together everyone is and how much they believe in what we’re doing, and we’ll need that to carry us through.