Dan Harding believes that Saints will hit the ground running next weekend and says that he wouldn't read too much into the defeat at QPR.
Although a 3-0 defeat suggests that Saints may have taken a step back from last weekend's victory by the same score line, the recent defensive acquisition on a free transfer feels that the team will have learnt a lot from the game.
"Queens Park Rangers are going to be a good Championship side this season and I don't really think that the score line reflected the game," he said. "As a team we felt that they didn't really create too many chances against us, but they got the goals and at the end of the day goals win games.
"From the game as a whole, I don't think we exposed defensively too much but a clean sheet like we achieved last week is what we're aiming for and I think it's coming together. We're taking the positives obviously it's disappointing to concede three goals but we'll be looking to eradicate that next week
"We've got a week to work now on things that the gaffer didn't like, we're going to put them right and hopefully get a good result on Saturday.
"The manager has made it clear what he wants from the players," Harding continued. "Last week was a great result but maybe this result will be a good thing, you don't want to go into a season feeling over confident. We'll be hurting from this defeat and hopefully we will bounce back.
After a busy first couple of weeks under the guidance of Alan Pardew, Harding is anticipating a good start to the League One campaign.
"This last week was really hard, we went away with no days off, and it was good to do that, we worked hard and bonded well.
"We're going to be fresh for Saturday. The gaffer will make sure that we are ready. The manager has come in and had a positive effect on us so we're building from the back and that's the way it's going to be.
"It's going to be a hard start, but the manager has come in and said what he wants, so if you're not playing well enough then you won't be in the team and that's fair enough.
"We go into the first game knowing what he'll expect from us and we have to go out and deliver."
Harding was also pleased with the appointment of Dean Wilkins as Alan Pardew's assistant, a man he knows well from his days in the Brighton youth set up.
"Dean's a fantastic coach, the gaffer will have seen some glowing references about him and it obviously wasn't a difficult choice for him. He's come in and got his own way of playing and he's going to make us a better team and better individually."
