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Southampton head coach Simon Parker expressed his frustration following his side’s 3-2 loss to Nottingham Forest at St Mary’s Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The South Coast side were leading 2-1 with less than 10 minutes to go but they conceded two late goals to surrender all three points and end their unbeaten league run.
When speaking to the media after the match, Southampton boss Parker expressed frustration with the team’s first half performance but stated that he was pleased with the second half, where players showed more purpose and intensity.
“I felt the first half was flat, it was poor,” Parker said. “I wasn’t happy and I just felt that we didn’t have enough going forward. It just lacked purpose and intent. I don’t think Forest really created anything in that first half, just the moment where we switched off. Apart from that, it was quite a flat, boring first half.
“I’m really happy with the players for how they reacted in the second half. They had a little bit more purpose and intensity, so there were a lot of positives and I felt we were quite comfortable, we looked decent.
“To then concede two goals that were pretty much the exact same goal in a couple of minutes is very frustrating.”
Southampton were again backed by a sizeable crowd with 2,293 supporters in attendance at St Mary’s Stadium. Parker expressed his appreciation for the fans’ support.
He said “We could hear them and I thought they were great. The attendance was pretty good today.
“We were disappointed with that first half because no-one really wants to come out and watch a game like that, so we need to make sure that we put on a performance for them. The second half is very positive for that.
“Obviously, they’ll be really disappointed with how it ended, but they were massive for us and they helped us get back into the game. They’re a big help to us and they’re going to be very important going forward.”
Despite the narrow loss, Southampton have started the season very positively with three wins, two draws and only two losses and they now sit in fifth place in the league table. Reflecting on the team’s progress, Parker maintained a positive outlook, stating that The Saints have been competitive in every game and he expressed confidence in the team’s ability to learn from this experience.
He said “Every single game that we’ve had, we’ve been competitive and I don’t feel there’s any team that we cannot beat. We can be competitive in every game and so that’s a big positive and that’s something we’ve got to keep believing in because if you take away these two moments where we’ve been punished, we’re pretty happy with how today’s gone.
“We’ll do better, we’ve got more experience and we’ll make sure that we use these types of things in the future.”
Southampton are next in Barclays WSL2 action when they travel to Charlton Athletic on Sunday afternoon.
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