Mark Hughes hailed an excellent performance from his Southampton side, as they picked up a first Premier League win of the season with a 2-0 triumph at Crystal Palace.
Second-half goals from Danny Ings and Pierre-Emile Højbjerg ensured Saints head into the international break off the back of a positive result, and Hughes was in no doubt that it was one they richly deserved.
The Saints manager said: "It's really pleasing, the level of control we had. Certainly in the first half I thought we were excellent, I thought we were quicker, sharper and more dynamic in everything that we did in comparison to Palace.
mark hughes
in the end, the margin of victory was probably a fair one.
southampton manager
"Obviously, they were the home team and they wanted to start brightly, but they weren't able to get a foothold in the game because of our good play.
"The only negative really going into half-time was that we hadn't capitalised on the dominance we had. We really should have been one or two goals to the good, but it wasn't to be.
"So you do have that slight fear that maybe you might get caught out because you haven't capitalised on that pressure, but thankfully we were able to get our noses in front."
Saints, who had a Charlie Austin penalty saved midway through the second half, had to weather a late Palace storm, but they held firm and sealed the points in added time through Højbjerg's breakaway goal.
"You know at some point the home team will throw things into your box, and, given the personnel they've got, they were always going to throw long diagonals in, and we had to deal with a different type of problem, which we were able to do. In the end, the margin of victory was probably a fair one.
"I thought we put our bodies on the line and got good blocks in. In the end, we've been able to come here – which is not an easy place, as everybody knows – and get a positive result, so we're really pleased."
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