Saints show boosted boss

Nigel Adkins praised Southampton's display against Tottenham on Sunday despite the fact they fell to a seventh Premier League defeat.

Saints looked dreadful in the first half at St Mary's and deservedly went in at half-time trailing to goals from Gareth Bale and Clint Dempsey. The south-coast side did, though, return reinvigorated after the break and, having pulled one back through Jay Rodriguez, were unfortunate not to take a point from the match. "We could have scored more. We had them on the rack, but unfortunately we ran out of time," Adkins said. "The second half was very good, I think, and we gave ourselves the opportunity to win the game. "What we did in the second half we had wanted to do in the first half so let's give Spurs some credit because they slowed the game down very well."