Long wanted to take his chance

The striker headed Southampton into the lead against the Baggies, and said afterwards that he took inspiration from teammate Jay Rodriguez’s recent double against Bournemouth, to get back among the goals.

“I watched Jay take his chance well and I was the same,” said Long. “It’s been a bit of a frustrating season by getting bits here and there but I knew it was my chance to make an impression and hopefully I did. It was nice to get the goal but it’s a disappointing day.”

Saints suffered back-to-back home defeats in the space of three days, but Long is looking forward to putting that right as soon as possible, starting with Monday’s trip to Everton.

“We’re not doing too much wrong, and every goal we concede seems to go into the corners, so it’s tough,” he explained.

“We believe in ourselves and we know we’re good enough to get out of this rut that we’re in. There’s a lot of games to go and if we can go to Everton and get three points then we can kick on in the new year in good form.

“There’s been a lot of ups and downs and the confidence is growing every year and I’m delighted to be a part of that,” Long added. “We’ve grown step by step and the next step is to improve these results where we’re losing by the odd goal here and there. Hopefully it will click soon and we’ll beat that one team 4 or 5-0 to kick on from there.

“There’s still a lot of work to do on the training ground with a lot of new players in the squad and we’re still gelling and hopefully the future is bright.”