‘Fightback felt like a win’

RALPH HASENHUTTL hailed his players for refusing to give up after they fought back from two goals down to rescue a point.

The fightback was vital for Southampton, who had slumped to a 4-1 defeat in their season-opener against Tottenham, but are now off the mark for the season ahead of league games against Leicester, Manchester United and Chelsea.

Saints boss Hasenhuttl said: ‘It’s good to see the reaction. It was like a team that doesn’t accept when something hasn’t worked. The effort was amazing, their commitment was phenomenal.

‘Every sub was very good today, we spoke last season about being a game changer for us and we showed it today. When you come back from two down it feels like a win.

‘We took a point, I think in the end maybe three were possible, but we take it as an important one. We know tough games are coming up and we have to go strong again.’

Leeds manager Jesse Marsch, whose side have picked up four points from their opening two games, said: ‘When you remove the emotion, because it’s high, you see clearly we’re making progress.

‘Obviously we’re disappointed. It’s a terrible feeling to play so well and then have the game switch and walk away with what feels less than one point. But that’s also progress for us to be so disappointed.’