Wood: Close but not close enough
Nathan Wood rued one decisive moment in a game of few chances against Aston Villa, as Saints were narrowly beaten despite positive spells at Villa Park.
With the game dictated by the elements at times, Russell Martin's side had positive spells but were beaten by Jhon Durán's first half strike that proved to be the difference.
Playing consecutive matches for the first time in his Saints career, just three days after his Premier League debut, Wood made a series of crucial late contributions to keep the deficit at one, but there a late equaliser never materialised.
"Again it's another game where we're close but not close enough to take something from it," Wood reflected. "I think that's the frustrating bit because we're not coming away thinking 'we weren't good there', we're coming away thinking we've had a chance."
"I know we've not had many shots - I don't know if we had any on target - but if we get that end bit right we can come here and we win points and I think that's the frustrating part."
Up against a Champions League outfit in Villa, Saints were in the contest at times but weren't able to fashion enough clear cut chances to avoid defeat.
"That's the mentality of the boys as well, we're not going to come here and just accept these are Champions League level, we believe in ourselves and what we're doing," Wood asserted, "it hurts even more that we're good enough to come here and take something as we did at Brighton.
"I felt like me and Taylor [Harwood-Bellis] covered there [for the goal], but if you get things wrong in the Premier League you get punished by good players - we'll keep going, the type of players and personalities we've got we're going to give it our best every game"
On his back-to-back Premier League starts, Wood remained adamant that the result was more important than his personal achievements.
"I've come here to play, it's been frustating at times not being in the squad or being on the bench but I knew if I kept myselgf ready at some point I'd have a chance to play.
"t's one thing playing but you want to play and win, that's the reason you're a footballer so it's tough to take but at the same time I'd much rather be on the pitch."
