Southampton 2-1 Bournemouth: Mark Hughes insists win will have rivals looking over their shoulder

Saturday 28 April 2018 18:47, UK

Mark Hughes believes Southampton's 2-1 victory over Bournemouth will have Saints' relegation rivals "looking over their shoulders".

Two goals from Dusan Tadic were enough for Saints to move to within a point of Swansea in 17th, with three games to play. After their defeat to home to Everton, Huddersfield are also now only three points clear of the bottom three.

Saints' win was their first in nine league games, and gives them a real chance of mounting a late bid to secure their Premier League safety, according to Hughes.

"You could see the reaction from the crowd," Hughes said. "Everybody was behind the guys. There was a huge amount of endeavour, and plenty of skill too.

"It takes a huge amount of effort for the guys to get to a point in games where they can see games out. To get three points is massive.

"We need to have the teams above us looking over their shoulders, and this result does that for us. We need to pressure the ones above us too. They know we have quality here. Now we just need to keep the momentum from this huge result. If we carrying on playing like we did today, we will go close."

Having been on top for much of the first half, Josh King's equaliser, against the run of play, right on the stroke of half-time, could have easily swung the momentum in Bournemouth's favour, but Tadic's goal nine minutes into the second half soon calmed nerves around St Mary's setting them en route to that pivotal three points.

"Everyone knew the circumstances coming into the game - we needed maximum points," Hughes added. "Draws weren't good enough. It is only one part of what we need to do.

"It was a huge effort. There was a little bit of a worry around how the guys would react after conceding just before half time. We have been scarred by previous results, but, to a man they were magnificent.

"We dug in, got the lead back, and in the end we were just throwing bodes at the ball. They threw everything at us. Huge result. It doesn't mean anything yet, but it could be hugely significant."